


The Storybook Prince

by Secchar



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fake sekai, High School AU, M/M, Secret Identity, Slow Burn, Vaguely enemies to lovers, but it's there for most of the plot, like slow slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-04-06 17:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 91,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secchar/pseuds/Secchar
Summary: Jongin’s not the only one who knows how to play games.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also crossposted on AFF

I.

If there’s one thing Kyungsoo is proud of, it’s his knowledge of SM High School’s best observation locations. The Art IV room shares a wall with Mrs. Jang’s classroom. From 4 to 5, the air ducts perfectly relay all the drama in the Fine Arts department. The same with the utility closet in D-Hall for the English Department, Mr. Kim’s room for Science, C-Hall computer lab for Language, and the infirmary for Administration, Kyungsoo’s favorite.

Today, though, he’s located at the top of the stairs in front of chipped maroon lockers with the entire commons laid out before him. Students mill around, talking to friends, playing on their phones, unaware that they‘re being watched. Normally, Kyungsoo would be glancing over the student body, but he has a specific task that involves the rapidly growing crowd.

The center of the crowd is the power couple of the moment, Jongin Kim and Sooyoung Choi. Jongin Kim, a kid close to Kyungsoo’s heart, is Kyungsoo’s reason in standing at the top of the stairs. In ninth grade, Jongin has unknowingly started the legend of D.O. and Kyungsoo’s illustrious career, a career that has so far consisted of three years and four composition books.

Kyungsoo is close to finishing, what Minseok affectionately calls, his “Death Note”. All he has to do is fill out the last five pages before it can be filed next to its three predecessors. The ever-growing crowd promises to comply, and, in Kyungsoo’s experience, Jongin never disappoints.

Even from a distance, Sooyoung’s wild gesticulations give away her anger. Jongin stands emotionless. This isn’t his first public spectacle. He just has to wait.

Sooyoung’s anger slowly dims as she shouts her piece. When she finishes, she stands glaring, waiting for an answer. Jongin lets the silence build for dramatic effect before he begin his monologue.

It goes downhill from there.

The longer Jongin speaks, the more Sooyoung’s face falls into disbelief, the bigger Kyungsoo’s grin grows, and the more nervous Jongin becomes. This reaction is much too familiar for his liking.

By the end of his speech, Jongin’s stage voice has dropped into a loud whisper laced with uncertainty. Kyungsoo bites back a smile as he writes the scene into his notebook. It’s just as he predicted. All he has to do is watch the break-up and jot it down before he returns to Minseok.

A sixth sense makes him look up just in time to see Sooyoung throw the pictures.

There are three pictures in all. All of Jongin and his past conquests with a name, a date, and a character archetype scribbled on the back by a fifth-grader Kyungsoo had paid. The pictures had been taken by Baekhyun and stuffed into Sooyoung’s locker, secretly, by Chanyeol. Kyungsoo left nothing to chance.

Kyungsoo feels smug satisfaction that he’s predicted everything down to a T. That’s never happened before. Maybe he’s stepping up his game.

Things are never quite so perfect.

In her anger, Sooyoung has thrown a piece of printer paper. A piece of printer paper that Kyungsoo, in detail, had typed Jongin’s game and the monologue he would use to calm Sooyoung if she confronted him. She’s confronted him. He’s responded word for word the speech Kyungsoo has written, and now, Jongin has the paper. Kyungsoo has never felt the irony so harshly.

Kyungsoo has spent years perfecting his poker face and it doesn’t fail him now. With deliberate slowness, Kyungsoo writes the final scene of Jongin’s character’s game and closes the book. Livid beyond belief, he watches the final curtain close. Sooyoung stalks away, clearly done with Jongin Kim, and Jongin, fucking Jongin, picks up the photos and the paper before he walks away, the crowd parting like the red sea to let him leave. The show is over.

Kyungsoo, with feigned nonchalance, walks down the stairs. On his way to the infirmary, he passes by Jongin. He goes unnoticed. Kyungsoo gives into a small smile. Three years of ruining Jongin’s plans and he is still non-existent. That’s comforting.

The infirmary door is closed when he gets there which means one of two things. Either Suho is working or Minseok is skipping. As he opens the door, he hears the springs of the bed squeak and the rustling of sheets. He proceeds to the white curtain that separated the beds from the infirmary.

“If you want to keep skipping pre-cal to sleep, you’ve got to get into position faster.” He whips back the curtain to look upon his friend.

Minseok Kim glares up at him with clear brown eyes; black hair messed up from where he’s scrunched it with his hands. A computer charging cable peeks out from under his pillow. The laptop lets out a whir.

“You couldn’t go six hours without watching something?” Kyungsoo asks.

Minseok slides the cord under the pillow. “If pre-cal were more interesting, I could easily go without watching something. But that’s never going to happen so why bother? Anyway, how did it go? You did win, right?”

Kyungsoo combs his fingers through his hair and hands Minseok the book. “In a sense.”

“What?”

Kyungsoo turns Suho’s chair around and takes a seat, hands clasped loosely on the back of the chair. “Read it and then I’ll explain.”

Minseok opens the book and reads. Kyungsoo puts his chin on his hands and waits. His initial anger has faded. He’d just have to try again and be cleverer.

Minseok puts down the book and looks up at him. It’s silent as they stare at each other while he digests the information. He frowns.

“He found the D.O. letter with the speech you predicted he would say which turned out to be the same word for word. Of course, he’ll read it and know that not only are you creepy, you’re creepy and a stalker.”

Kyungsoo frowns at Minseok’s delight. “I don’t care about D.O.’s reputation as long as people don’t make the connection. What I do care about is it took me three years to emulate his style and diction for that letter and now he’s going to change it. It took three years and three attempts to get it perfect. And now it’s all going down the drain.”

Minseok puts a hand on his shoulder. “You’re heaving. Calm down.”

Kyungsoo takes slow and deep breaths. “Sorry, it just makes me angry to think about.”

“Then don’t. You’re Kyungsoo Do. You always have a plan.”

Kyungsoo grins slightly, the anger fading rapidly as the beginning of a plan begins to wiggle around in his mind. “It’s funny that you mention that because I do have a basic idea.”

Minseok nods. “Of course, you’re going to get close to him, seduce him, and then expose him. Or even better, you get me to seduce him and then we both expose him.”

Kyungsoo cocks his head. “Are you really willing to go to that much effort to help me?” The question is a formality. Kyungsoo knows the answer.

Minseok nods very seriously. “You’re right, it’s better if you seduce him.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I can’t. He’s capital P Popular. He’s legitimately the only person I can’t associate with. And even if you could somehow scrounge up the energy to help me, I couldn’t hang out with you then.”

“Of course, popular by association would put you in the limelight too much. So what’s the plan?”

“I need to get him to go after someone that I can control from afar. I need a controlled variable.”

Minseok looks at him very seriously. “I feel like I’ve told you this before, but you can’t refer to people as variables.”

Kyungsoo nods distractedly as he thinks through every girl he knows, mind whirring as he trys to find someone compatible with his idea. Ethically speaking, he feels slightly bad about using someone, but he has, at most, only one more chance to thwart Jongin’s game. And this is honestly for the greater good, so one for the sake of many.

“Sehun,” Minseok says as he pulls out his laptop. It sings as he logs in.

“Sehun,” Kyungsoo repeats stupidly.

“Yeah, I know Jongin doesn’t go after boys much, but when he does, he goes after boys that look like Sehun. So get him to like Sehun. It shouldn’t be too hard, and for some inexplicable reason, Sehun seems to like you as a person, so he’ll do what you say.”

Kyungsoo’s quiet as he mulls over the offered plan. It’s good. Sehun is exactly Jongin’s type, and Sehun’s a good liar, not the best actor, but a good liar nonetheless. More importantly, Sehun loves a good prank. Kyungsoo could easily entice him to help, and if he remembers correctly, Sehun doesn’t like Jongin.

Kyungsoo thinks it’s because of some fake rumor. It has been something trivial in Kyungsoo’s opinion (Sehun stealing Jongin’s girlfriend or something close to that), but it worked wonders over the student body. In a matter of days, the entire student body has been against Sehun, and while within two months it had blown over, Sehun hasn’t forgotten.

Kyungsoo grins wickedly as the plan comes together. He’ll have to think it over a little more, but he has enough of it figured out to put it into action. “They have Chemistry together, but I don’t think they’re lab partners. If I send a D.O. letter to Mr. Park then I can get them placed together. That will get Sehun on Jongin’s radar for sure. If I tell Sehun beforehand, I can get him to be more receptive to Jongin. Luckily Jongin thinks with his dick so it shouldn’t be too hard to get him to set his sights on Sehun.”

“Do you have enough on Mr. Park to get him to do what you want?” Minseok asks. He still hasn’t looked up from his laptop.

“The man has an affinity for office sex. It’s not my fault he’s not more careful.”

Minseok glances up to give Kyungsoo a disapproving look before going back to his laptop. “I want Jongin to get what’s coming to him as much as you do, but I worry this plan’s a little too convoluted. Can’t you just post your findings on social media or something?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “No, Jongin’s too persuasive. He’ll easily talk his way out of whatever I post. It’s the only reason people don’t hate him for his promiscuous ways. No, the only way to win is to beat him at his own game.”

        

II.

Sehun is onboard almost as soon as Kyungsoo says “Jongin”. It takes little coaxing on Kyungsoo’s part after that. Once he’s made Sehun promise that he won’t mention Kyungsoo’s name at all, Kyungsoo gives him the plan.

Jongin Kim likes to play a different character for each girl he seduces.

His first character, the Kind Nerd who ends up with the Popular Girl, had been a little sloppy. He did end up dating Luna for about three months, but the lead-up to it had been awkward. The character hadn’t fit exactly fit with his appearance (tall, dark and handsome) or his personality (flirty) and resulted in a poorly fitted act that caught Kyungsoo’s attention almost immediately. Kyungsoo had abandoned his investigation on the principal/teacher affair and began following Jongin.

The second character, The Boy-Next-Door, was a better fit and generally well-received. Jongin ended up dating Taeyeon for six months before Kyungsoo acted. It had been clumsy on his part; Jongin had almost caught him at one point. But Kyungsoo had just barely managed to scrape away from trouble. The absolute anger on Jongin’s face when he realized he had been revealed had ignited an addictive petty happiness in Kyungsoo.

The third character, The Bad Boy, was his best yet. The Bad Boy was a good look on him. Leather Jackets were a good look on him. The transition from Boy-Next-Door to Bad Boy shouldn't have worked, but Jongin knew what he was doing. He heavily encouraged everyone to think that his break-up had inspired it. He seduced Sunny in under two months, but they had barely dated for one before Kyungsoo exposed him again. Kyungsoo had been filled with rage when he thought of shy, insecure Sunny being taken advantage of by Jongin. He had almost intervened in person before he was able to rationalize his way down. His research would be contaminated if he got personally involved.

The fourth character, the Popular Jock, has been Jongin’s most recent. Sooyoung had been head cheerleader and Jongin had been the star football player. It wasn’t his most interesting character in Kyungsoo’s opinion, so he let it drag on a little longer than normal. He only ended it now because he thought that Sooyoung might be in danger of developing real feelings for Jongin, and well, she could do better.

“He’ll be Prince Charming.”

“What?” Sehun asks.

“With you, he’ll act like Prince Charming. He’ll be sickeningly sweet towards you and act the perfect gentleman. You just have to be receptive. Once you start dating, we’ll work on exposing him in such a way that he can’t talk his way out.”

There are two main reasons as to why Kyungsoo’s sure this will be Jongin’s next character. The first is because Prince Charming is the original stereotype and Jongin’s more than vain enough to try it out. The second is that he’ll need to start asking for recommendation letters soon, and Prince Charming makes a better impression to the teachers than any other character. There’s also the added benefit that the transition from Popular Jock to Prince Charming is ambiguous and most will barely know the difference. Jongin will have to stop bullying the losers, but the supposed change of heart will just make him more appealing to the masses.

Sehun nods slowly. “So I just have to go along with it?”

“Yeah. Just pretend to be into him, and I’ll take care of the rest. I only need you to do this until May. He won't have enough time to try a new character.

“Alright. Should be fun.”

 

III.

“This is a terrible idea,” Baekhyun says when Kyungsoo hands him the D.O. letter to slip under Mr. Park’s door.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes because Baekhyun always says this when Kyungsoo hands him a letter. “It’ll be fine. He’ll never know that it’s you. The security cameras in the hall are just for show. The only ones that work are the ones placed at the entrance. There will be no evidence that it’s you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t budge. “Don’t you think Jongin’s suffered enough?”

“No,” Kyungsoo replies instantly. “Only if the guy has stopped playing his game, would I think he had suffered enough. No one even thinks badly of him when he gets exposed. That’s fucked up, and you know it. Come on, it’s our last chance before we graduate. Pleeeeeease?”

Baekhyun gives Kyungsoo a withering glance before snatching the letter from his hand. “Fine, but this is the last time.”

“Of course.”

It will not be the last time.

 

IV.

There’s a lot of thought behind Kyungsoo’s place in the school hierarchy. He’s a floater. A position that suits him well, but not one that he fell into naturally. Kyungsoo crafted his place with extreme diligence and care. By making sure he can fit in everywhere, he becomes invisible. No one is ever surprised to see him, and as a result, their eyes just pass over him. He never seeks anyone out to talk, but he can fit into any conversation that occurs around him. Jongin’s not the only one who knows how to play games.

Of course, the only reason Kyungsoo has so much power as the floater is because he knows the rules. He can’t associate with the bottom of the chain nor the top. If he talks to anyone on the bottom tier, he’ll become a loser by association. The same logic applies to the top tier. He has to firmly remain with the limits of the middle tiers on the hierarchy.

He does push the boundary a little because Jongin is currently the top of the top and even just breathing in his direction is risky now, but Kyungsoo’s been observing Jongin for over three years now. He can’t just quit.

So he’ll play it safe. He’ll delegate more than usual and he won’t interact with anyone who even sits near Jongin.

 

V.

 While the plan is good in theory, Kyungsoo’s not exactly sure he can avoid interacting with himself. Mr. Park, under fear of the D.O. letter, has changed the seating chart to make Sehun and Jongin sit together. But Lady Luck is cruel and makes Kyungsoo end up on the other side of Jongin. It’s too close. Kyungsoo has never felt more vulnerable. Kyungsoo can’t believe he forgot that he shares this class with Jongin. It hadn’t mattered when they had been arranged alphapetically. Kyungsoo had ended up in the middle of row 1 and Jongin had been the beginning of row 3.

Lady Luck is fickle though, and lets Jongin completely ignore Kyungsoo in favor of Sehun. Kyungsoo has never been more glad that he’s not Jongin’s type and that Sehun is. Jongin’s not even facing him, he’s so focused on Sehun. It’s great for the plan. But it’s not really the Prince Charming character that Kyungsoo’s predicted. If it was, Kyungsoo would be receiving polite, yet distant attention from Jongin. But Kyungsoo reasons that it’s a little too soon for Jongin to pick up a new character perfectly. It usually takes a week for Jongin to completely grasp it.

As is, Jongin’s attention towards Sehun isn’t of the romantic sort yet. It’s more brotherly, but Jongin is playing the victim card with Sehun.

“Yeah, can you believe it? She had been given a letter that told her I wasn’t sincere in my feelings for her. She doesn’t even know who sent it and she believed it over me. It was written in Comic Sans no less. I thought our relationship was stronger than that.”

Sehun nods in commiseration. “Yeah, that sucks, man. You didn’t deserve that.” Sehun makes eye contact with Kyungsoo and smiles slyly like they share a secret. They do share a secret, but Kyungsoo doesn’t want anyone to know they share a secret. Kyungsoo forgets that Sehun likes to show-off, and that’s not really a great thing when you’re trying to be incognito.               

He can’t stay here.

Kyungsoo takes off his glasses, folds them, slips them into his backpack, and raises his hand. “Mr. Park, I can’t see the board from here. Can I switch with someone up front?”

Mr. Park looks like he’s about to say no, but he sees Kyungsoo’s squinted glare and thinks better of it. He snaps his fingers in Yuna’s direction. “Yuna, switch with him.”

Kyungsoo thanks the gods for the first time in his life that he has terrible eyesight as he packs up his things and moves up front.

As he swings his bag up on his shoulder, Jongin calls out to him. “We’ll miss you,…” Kyungsoo suppresses a smile. It looks like Jongin is finally starting to slip into character.

“Kyungsoo.”

Jongin nods and gives a small smile before turning back to a confused Sehun. Sehun looks up at him imploringly, but Kyungsoo gives a jerky shake of the head. Don’t question it. Sehun doesn’t look happy, but he relaxes his expression into something more neutral.

Kyungsoo smiles at Yuna as he passes her. She doesn’t notice him at all. She’s grinning excitedly at Jongin and Sehun, and the prospect of getting to sit next to them.

 _Good for her,_ Kyungsoo thinks amusedly. At least he’s making someone happy with his plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a quick update because I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get out when I'm back at college. I wanted to give you a little more before the updates get super slow.

        

I.

Kyungsoo’s pulling a new notebook out of his locker, so he can write down the events that had conspired in Chemistry today. He closes the locker and starts when he finds Minseok in front of him. He huffs.

“Come on, man. Don’t do that.”

“I did absolutely nothing. It’s not my fault that you’re such a pansy. “

Kyungsoo softly whacks him inbetween the eyes with the notebook. “You didn’t say a fucking word when you came up. It’s on you, and you know it.”

Minseok laughs, “Ah perhaps. How’d it go?”

Kyungsoo shrugs as he tries to force the notebook into his mess of a backpack. “It went fine in the end. Park tried to make me sit next to Sehun and Jongin, but that’s not going to work. So I faked not being able to see the board and got moved. The bright side is that Jongin’s already picked Sehun as his new target, and he’s already laying the groundwork. I give him about two weeks before he starts blatantly flirting. The bad side is that Jongin knows my name, which is a first in the three years I’ve been watching him. But it’s not really that bad overall since it’s a classroom acquaintance. If he had approached me in the hall, it would have been more alarming. So overall, it was okay.”

“I don’t know, man. Names are powerful. He might be half in love with you already. His thing with Sehun could have been some kind of diversionary tactic, and you could be the real target. At this moment, Jongin could be talking about the guy he met in class. You could become popular overnight.”

Minseok’s wriggling his eyebrows suggestively, face lit up with amusement. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Yeah right, Min. Jongin and I have always shared at least one class since freshman year, and he’s never noticed me before. The only reason he did this time was because the character demands it. And maybe because Sehun kept looking at me. I really need to talk to him about looking at me in class. He almost blew it. He’s too excited about this.”

Minseok shrugs. “It’s new and exciting, he’ll settle into it once the newness has worn off. Sehun’s good. What’s the next move?”

Kyungsoo shrugs, “We wait until Jongin gets really obvious with the flirting. By that time it will the talk of the school, and Jongin’s characters thrive under that kind of attention. Then we strike. Of course since this is the grand finale, it has to be good. And I haven’t quite figured out how I want to do that. The problem is Jongin is really good at keeping the public favor even when he’s exposed.”

“I don’t know if it’s all this talk of exposure, but you could pants him.”

“How does that make him look bad?”

“He could have a micropenis.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “He doesn’t have that.”

Minseok starts laughing almost immediately. “You’ve seen it? Are you serious? Kyung, say it ain’t so.”

Kyungsoo laughs lightly. “It’s not like I wanted to. Our classes had to do the pacer test together and then he walked around the locker room naked. Everyone saw it that day.”

“So what’s the result? Does it pass?”

“Who knows, man? What does the size matter if you don’t know how to use it?” Kyungsoo asks. He’s not answering the question. They both know it.

“Hmm,” Minseok hums suspiciously. “So he’s big.”

Kyungsoo whacks him with his bag. That has no effect on Minseok except to make laugh harder. “Is it the dick of your dreams, Kyung?”

Kyungsoo playfully wraps his hands around Minseok’s neck and gently throttles him. “I think you’re talking about yourself. You're the real size queen here.”

“Oh, is Min talking about his dream dick again?” Chanyeol asks, arm slung casually over Bakehyun’s shoulder.

Kyungsoo nods seriously. “He didn’t want to tell you, but he’s been salivating over Jongin’s dick.”

Chanyeol laughs so hard he drops to his knees, but Baekhyun nods in agreement. “It’s a good dick. I saw it last year in gym. Big, thick, I’d give it a nine.”

Kyungsoo looks at Minseok as if to say _see, I told you_. Minseok scoffs.

“Hey, so how did it go with the whole Operation Big Dick?” Chanyeol asks after he’s caught his breath and managed to get back to his feet.

“We’re not calling it that. We’ll just call it PC for Prince Charming if we refer to it. It went fine. He learned my name, but he’s already latched on to Sehun. I give it two, three months before they start dating.”

“That’s kind of long for Jongin. He usually moves faster than that.”

“I asked Sehun to slow it down, so I could give myself more time and Jongin less time.”

“Oh I see,” Baekhyun exclaims. “That way you can sweep in and seduce Jongin.”

Kyungsoo scrunches his face in disgust. “I don’t know why you all think that I’m into him.”

“You’ve been following him for three coming on four years now, Kyung. It seems unlikely you don’t have some sort of feelings for him.”

Kyungsoo nods. “No, I mean I can’t say I like him when he’s playing all the characters, but I admire his game. It’s really interesting. He’s taking every single male stereotype and proving its effectiveness. That’s insane.”

“And then you’re exposing him for what reason?” Minseok asks. He’s well aware of why Kyungsoo’s doing it, but he wants to know If Kyungsoo’s aware of it. The way Kyungsoo hesitates to answer right away shows Minseok that he does.

“Honestly, ego-stroking. When I expose him, I think it shows that I’m better than him.” _Wow,_ Kyungsoo thinks, _that sounds terrible out loud._

“I think Jongin wins overall because the student body still loves him. You would win if he were shamed for the rest of the year, but he’s not, so…”

“It’s the principle of the thing!” Kyungsoo hisses through gritted teeth. It is a constant sore sport for him that Jongin despite all of his promiscuity is still in the good graces of the student body. In all honesty, it’s the most amazing part of Jongin’s game to Kyungsoo. There’s nothing more uncontrollable than people’s opinions, but Jongin’s managed to keep them wrapped around his finger. Kyungsoo would love to ask how, but you know, the plan.

“It might be the principle, but I agree with Baekhyun. Jongin’s winning.”

Kyungsoo glares at Chanyeol before addressing all of them. “You’re all terrible friends.”

 

II.

 

Honestly Kyungsoo would have thought that he was done interacting with Jongin. A quick conversation with Sehun had stopped the boy from looking at him strangely during class. Of course, Kyungsoo had to promise that he and Sehun could hang out outside of school. Kyungsoo had agreed, more than a little amused at the seriousness of Sehun’s proposal, but Sehun was a good guy and the rest of Kyungsoo’s friends liked him. It was a small price to pay for making sure the plan would go well.

That is until Jongin ended up transferring into Kyungsoo’s calculus class a week later. To be fair, Sehun’s also in the class, but still. It’s way past the cutoff point to change classes. Kyungsoo knows, he’s tried. He had to suffer through a year of ballroom dancing because he waited too long. So the fact that Jongin’s done it is amazing. And there’s only one possible reason.

“He has a connection,” Kyungsoo whispers tiredly to himself. It’s been a long day. He had overslept which always made him anxious, he had dripped his coffee on his white jeans, and been assigned a partner project in physics, and now Jongin's in his calculus class. This is just not his day.

“He has a what?” Chanyeol whispers from beside him. Chanyeol’s worksheet is a mess of numbers.

“A connection,” Kyungsoo says a little louder. He lifts his glasses to rub his eyes. He had accidently fallen asleep with his contacts in last night and now he was paying the price. There’s no other way Jongin could have transferred into this class after the cutoff. It had to be someone in administration, which made Kyungsoo extremely jealous. He had been trying for ages to establish a connection in Administration but Ryeowook just wasn’t going for it.

“Why is that surprising?” Chanyeol asks. “Did you think he was working alone?”

Kyungsoo nods, still rubbing his eyes. It feels way too good to stop. “Yeah. I mean I had no reason to think he was working with anyone. Occam’s razor, you know? The more simple it is, the more likely.”

“Maybe it’s his first time using it.”

That’s plausible, Kyungsoo supposes. But the question then becomes, why now? Why wait until now? Jongin didn’t do this with any of his previous conquests. Kyungsoo would have heard about it for sure. So why now?

And the only answer that Kyungsoo can think of is that Jongin’s trying to move fast, maybe too fast. Jongin’s more prone to making mistakes the faster he goes. It’s really unlike the perfection’s Kyungsoo’s come to expect of him. Vaguely, Kyungsoo wonders if Jongin’s changing his whole game plan. But he dismisses it almost as soon as he thinks it. Changing the game would definitely be too risky for someone like Jongin.

“Is it really that big a problem?” Chanyeol asks.

“It’s just an unknown variable which is a pain. I’ll figure it out. It’s fine just focus on your calculus.”

“Well, at least he’s in front of you. It’d be worst if he were behind you. At least this way you’re out of sight, out of mind.”

Kyungsoo nods along with Chanyeol’s words. There is a slight saving grace to this whole debacle. Jongin is in the second row while Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are in the fourth. As long as Kyungsoo just keeps his head down and does his work, the situation shouldn’t change.

“Hey, Kyuhyun, right?” Jongin asks from right next to Kyungsoo’s desk, leaving no doubt that its Kyungsoo he wants. Wow, it is a really shitty Tuesday.

_That’s not even close to my name. What the fuck?_

“No, actually. It’s Kyungsoo. How can I help you?” Kyungsoo tilts his head up and smiles slightly. The perfect picture of politeness. The more bland he comes off to Jongin, the better.

“Oh sorry, my bad, Kyungsoo. Mr. Lim says I should come to you if I need tutoring for calculus. I transferred in from pre-cal, so I’m a little behind.”

So many thoughts go through Kyungsoo’s head. First of all, Jongin’s connection has to have some serious power if he can just transfer into calculus without finishing pre-cal. Second, Mr. Lim threw him under the bus because Kyungsoo’s not even the top of the class. That’s Chanyeol, so screw Mr. Lim. And third, the school has three different math tutors for this very purpose. Kyungsoo’s not one of them.

In short, there’s multiple things wrong with this interaction and while Kyungsoo would love to tell Jongin to fuck off, he has to be polite. Everybody remembers someone who's mean to them. Hardly anyone remembers someone who's polite.

So Kyungsoo shrugs and smiles apologetically. “I’m sorry, but I’m not one of the math tutors anymore. You’d do better asking Amber or Daehyun.” It’s a small lie; Kyungsoo’s never been a tutor, but it’s so inconsequential.

Jongin rubs the back of his neck sheepishly and smiles brightly at him. It's an odd combination, but Kyungsoo lets it slide. Jongin needs a little more time to get into character.

“Uh, I can’t  ask any of the other tutors because I have dance until 7 every night. That’s outside of the tutors’ hours. But Mr. Lim says that you tutored Sehun, and I know that Sehun has swimming until 7, so I wondered if you could tutor me? I’ll pay you for it.”

Shit. Kyungsoo has no way out of this. Jongin’s right. Kyungsoo does tutor Sehun from time to time and Sehun is indeed busy with swim club until 7. Any negative response on Kyungsoo’s part is a no go. He has to say yes.

“Ah, Kyungsoo’s busy with his psychology project right now. I can do it. I’m better at calculus than Kyungsoo anyway,” Chanyeol interjects. Underneath the table, Chanyeol reaches over and squeezes Kyungsoo’s knee reassuringly. He’ll take over from here.

Jongin immediately switches his attention to Chanyeol. “Oh really, that’s great. Can we talk during lunch? I have to go finish my worksheet.”

Chanyeol nods and hands Jongin a slip of paper with his number on it. Kyungsoo could almost sob with relief that this ordeal is over. Kyungsoo’s not a good actor. There’s a reason he prefers to act through the D.O. letters.

But the gods aren’t done with him yet.

After getting Chanyeol’s number, Jongin turns back to Kyungsoo. “Psychology project, huh? I’m really in psychology too. What’s your project on?”

While Kyungsoo had enjoyed Chanyeol’s small allusion to the plan, he didn’t want there to be this much attention on him or it. He has to lie, and the best lie is the one that’s closest to the truth.

“The Authenticity of Television Tropes in Real Life,” Kyungsoo replies. It’s not too far off. It’s based off a study his mother had done “The Malleability of the Adolescent through Television”, so if Jongin inquires further he can spout off some facts from his mother’s theory rather than his own personal experience. Kyungsoo’s not quite sure how strong Jongin’s deductive ability is, but it’s better to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Oh!” Jongin’s eyes are sparkling. He’s more than interested in the topic at hand, and Kyungsoo fears that he’ll try to continue the subject. He really doesn’t want to.

“That’s really cool. Are you taking psych?”

While Kyungsoo would love to say that he was taking psychology, that lie would too easily be proven false. He needed something safer.

Kyungsoo shakes his head and smiles genially, “No, it’s an internship.” He helps his mother with her work sometimes. That counts.

“It’s really cool that you already have an internship. Well, anyway, nice meeting both of you. I’ll see you around. Thanks again, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo watch as Jongin walks back to his desk. He puts his hand on the back of Sehun’s chair as he slides into his seat.

When he feels it’s safe, he whispers over at Chanyeol. “On a scale of 1-10, how likely do you think it is that he’ll try to talk to me again?”

Chanyeol’s watching as Jongin inches closer to Sehun under the guise of asking for help. “He seemed pretty interested in your project. I give it a 10.”

“Yeah, shit, so do I.” Kyungsoo ruffles his hair. This is not ideal. This is the exact opposite of ideal. He needs to figure his way out of this. This is already more contact with Jongin than he’s had in three years, and it’s barely been a week.

Chanyeol watches as Kyungsoo tries to furiously think of his next move, and decides to stop him before Kyungsoo’s brain implodes from stress.

“You owe me. I want a box of different-sized dildos delivered to my house tomorrow. No questions asked.”

Chanyeol’s successful in his endeavors. Kyungsoo’s mind screeches to a halt as he tries to comprehend what he’s just heard.

“A whole box? Why? What are you going to do with that many dildos?”

“No. Questions. Asked.”

 

III.

 

Kyungsoo sits in the corner of Baekhyun’s practice room as he practices for the upcoming showcase. It’s been three days since the encounter with Jongin, and Kyungsoo knows it’s only a matter of time. He still hasn’t figured out what he’s going to do.

The main problem is that Jongin seems genuinely interested in the “project”. Kyungsoo had briefly thought that Jongin’s interest might be part of the Prince Charming character, but that doesn’t seem right. It makes sense to Kyungsoo that someone who spends so much time taking on these personas would be interested in psychology. And Jongin’s so interested that Kyungsoo’s not sure that he’ll be able to escape with only one encounter.

So the only option is to cut Jongin off before the first encounter even happens. The question is how.

Kyungsoo looks up at Baekhyun and just watches for a few minutes as Baekhyun focuses on breathing properly. And that’s when Kyungsoo feels a plan begin to form. Baekhyun’s slow and deep breaths remind Kyungsoo of Sehun when he swims and that brings him to Sehun as a whole. Sehun is the real centerpiece to this entire web, and the best chance to distract Jongin. Since no matter how interested Jongin is in the “project”, playing his own game will always be more important. Kyungsoo just needs to capitalize on that fact. And Jongin’s already given Kyungsoo the key he needs.

Jongin’s under a time constraint, and as a result he’s moving fast with Sehun. Kyungsoo just needs to interrupt Jongin’s progress and make him scared. If Jongin feels too much pressure, he’ll be too distracted to focus on anything else. And since Sehun’s willing to do whatever Kyungsoo wants him to, Kyungsoo just needs to tell Sehun to play hard to get. Jongin can’t switch targets at this point. There’s too little time and it doesn’t fit in with the Prince Charming character.

“Someone looks happy.” Baekhyun says as he flips the page to the next song.

Kyungsoo shrugs, but he isn’t quite successful in getting rid of the grin off his face. “Just happy, I guess.”


	3. Chapter 3

I.

Jongin likes to consider himself a pretty calm guy, but, right now, he is furious. Everything seems to be going wrong. He’s on his second character of the school year and it’s only January. Planning a new character in such a short amount of time is stressful. He usually has the summer. And even though he’s a little grateful to get Sooyoung off his back (he had caught her way too quickly for him to enjoy the chase), he’s mostly angry. He knows about D.O., the school’s resident blackmailer. The guy’s got the school under his thumb. There’s nothing he doesn’t know, but he’s never focused on Jongin before.

 _To my notice,_ Jongin corrects himself. If he had told Sooyoung about Jongin’s project, there’s no doubt that he had told the others as well. Sooyoung was just careless. Jongin smirks. He bets that pissed the guy off.

The slight enjoyment he gets from imagining D.O. angry is quickly erased when he remembers that angry or not, D.O. still won. Has always won really. Jongin can’t let him win again. Even with the limited amount of time Jongin’s had to create the character, he’s been trying to plan specifically so he can counteract D.O.

Trying being the key word.

All he knows of D.O.’s involvement is the letter Sooyoung had thrown at him. He's read the letter multiple times, anger increasing with each read-through. D.O. had somehow managed to guess the exact speech Jongin would say. That alone spoke volumes of D.O.’s involvement with Jongin. It would have to take time and Jongin meant _time_ , for D.O. to be able to emulate him so perfectly. Jongin wants to believe that he would notice someone who was paying so much attention to him, but he can’t think of anyone near him capable of that level of deception or intellect at all. But the person has to be near him. There’s no other way he could have predicted Jongin’s project.

Jongin will admit that his characters can stick out a bit. They're stereotypes and stereotypes are meant to stick out to some degree, but he thought he melded the changes between them pretty seamlessly. And he takes every character to heart. He works with them till they fit him like a second skin. No one would notice that he’s not being sincere unless they were close to him. So Jongin's going to have to be extra vigilant this time and keep his cards close to his chest while he seduces Sehun. If he can.

Right away, Jongin’s anger flares again. Sehun is his latest conquest and Jongin will admit he’s moving fast, but he doesn’t have much time. And when he began, it hadn’t seemed to matter. Sehun seemed receptive to his attention. He was always flattered by Jongin’s attention and Jongin made sure his flirtations weren't too heavy-handed. Granted, Sehun was less receptive to him than Sooyoung was, but Jongin was willing to deal with the slowness. He was confident he could woo Sehun before the end of the year. But now Sehun’s giving him the cold shoulder, and Jongin has no idea why.

It was like someone had flipped a switch. Just last week, Sehun was into him, but now he wouldn’t give Jongin the time of day. Jongin’s project grinded to a halt because of Sehun. And Jongin’s running out of time, so he can’t really afford for this to happen. He needs to get Sehun to like him again. It’s only been two weeks! What could he have possibly done to put Sehun off?

Jongin runs his hands through his hair. He’s sitting in one of the dance practice rooms against the mirrored wall. He looks at himself in the opposite mirror. He’s so small, hunched over his knees with his head resting on top. He can’t see his eyes from this distance, but he knows what they would like if he were close enough: stressed. He needs help, but he doesn’t know which issue to deal with first. D.O. or Sehun?

He knows that Sehun is the more time-sensitive problem. He’s confident that D.O. won’t strike until he’s dating Sehun. But he has no idea what’s going on with Sehun. At least with D.O. he has some kind of starting point. The letter and the photos weren’t extremely elucidating, but they were something. The letter, which mainly consisted of Jongin’s speech, had a few paragraphs written by D.O. himself, and Jongin knows that a person’s style of writing says a lot about them.

Unfortunately, the written word isn’t his strong point. He did better with body language and facial expressions. It would be best if he could find someone to help him. Ideally, he would continue to work alone (asking Suho to get him transferred into calculus doesn’t count. Suho’s his brother.), but he’s sure that he can somehow keep the more private details to himself. If he just takes the parts of the D.O. letter that don’t have his speech, he can pass it off as an English assignment.

Satisfied with his plan for concealing the truth of the matter, he turns to thinking of someone who can help him with the letter. None of his friends are really good at analysis, so that’s a no go, but didn’t he recently run into someone who knew something about psych? The guy who was sitting next to his tutor, Chanyeol, had been working on a project that had to do with television, and he had an internship involving psychology. At the very least the guy would have to be good at analysis. Jongin vaguely remembers his name is Kyungsoo and that they share a couple of classes together. He’s Sehun’s tutor too, so he might have a little information on to why Sehun’s being so fucking fickle. 

II.

 

“Jongin came home yesterday, snarled at me when I asked him how his day was, slammed the door going into his room, and didn’t come out for the rest of the night.” Suho says as he walks into the infirmary. Kyungsoo’s on one of the cots, reading through one of his mother’s latest research papers, and without looking away from the paper entitled “How Words Reveal the Person”, he replies, “It’s not my fault he’s acting like an angsty teen. I haven’t done anything to him in the past week.”

Suho drops a file onto his desk and sits down to swivel around to face Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s squinting at the paper. His contacts are beginning to dry and he doesn’t have his glasses. It’s terrible but he promised his mom he’d finish it before the week’s up.

“You’re the one who told Sehun to do something to piss off Jongin.”

“I told Sehun to do something to piss off Jongin a week ago.”

Suho taps his desk as he thinks. “Don’t you think you should actually speed Sehun up so you can do the big reveal and crush Jongin?”

Kyungsoo snorts. “It’s nice you think so much of your younger brother.”

Suho shrugs. “I don’t approve of what he’s doing. People’s feelings are at stake and he just thinks he’s being a clever little shit.”

“Do you think I’m not a clever little shit?” Kyungsoo asks, letting the papers fall to the side. He can’t anymore. His eyes feel like they’re on fire.

“You’re a different kind of a clever little shit. You write things down. It’s different. Anyway back to the question. Why won’t you expose him sooner?”

“I don’t have a plan for the reveal which will actually destroy him, so I need time. And I also want to ensure that he can’t come up with a second character. Finally, I feel the need to distance myself from him, spatially and temporally, since someone got him into my calculus class.”

Suho laughs. “I didn’t know you shared the same class as Sehun. It’s not a big deal. He gets completely wrapped up in his game and hardly notices anyone else.”

Kyungsoo grimaces, “That’s what you think. I almost became his tutor. There’s only so many things I can control if we interact. Teachers are the worst variables. You never know what they’re going to do.”

Suho frowns. “Again, you cannot refer to people as variables.”

Kyungsoo grunts in reply, not really paying attention. He’s heard this spiel before. There’s no new information to be gained by listening.

“Kyungsoo, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, yeah, people are people too. It’s great.”

 

III.

 

Kyungsoo likes to sit in the overstuffed armchair in the library under the big window that faces the soccer fields in the afternoon, so he can be warmed by the afternoon sun while he waits for Minseok to finish soccer practice. He’s got his physics textbook open on his lap and his notebook balanced on the arm chair, but he can’t really bring himself to do it when the sun’s so warm on his skin. He really wants to take a nap, but he can’t. He promised he’d help Sehun with their Calculus homework tonight, and he’s still got to complete the Chemistry problem set. Just thinking about it makes him want to die. Why did he take so many sciences?

With a groan, he pushes himself until he’s not slouched down in the chair, and looks at the textbook. He’s able to complete the first three problems easily enough and is halfway through the fourth when a small cough alerts him to someone’s presence.

It’s Jongin Kim. Fantastic.

“Hey Kyungsoo.”

“Hi.” There’s no other way to respond, and Kyungsoo hates how limited his responses are when dealing with Jongin.

“Are you busy right now or can you talk for a few minutes?”

There’s no possible way Kyungsoo could make a case for his homework being more important. “No, I can talk.” He closes his textbook and slides his notebook on top of it to cement his claim.

Jongin smiles widely. Kyungsoo hates how nice it is even though it doesn’t reach his eyes. Jongin wants something, and Kyungsoo hopes it’s something he can deliver. He already feels uncomfortable that Jongin remembers his name this time.

Jongin sits in the chair opposite him and gives Kyungsoo his full attention. Kyungsoo focuses on the bridge of Jongin’s nose. He can’t really deal with direct eye contact.

“I need your help with something.” God, Kyungsoo hopes this isn’t about calculus. “In English we’re working on analyzing essays, so we were given some paragraphs to work on. I’m not really great at this, but I thought you might be. It’s a bit of an assumption based on your interest in psych, but I thought I might be right.”

Kyungsoo keeps his face carefully blank. Jongin’s request sounds simple enough, and that’s reason enough to be suspicious. Kyungsoo remembers exactly what he told Jongin about his “psych project” and he’s not sure how that lead to the assumption that he’d be good with word analysis. He supposes that since a big part of psych is analysis that Jongin could think it lead as far as words, but that still sounds suspicious. Kyungsoo would do best to play it safe.

“Wouldn’t asking your teacher or one of the kids in your class be better?”

Jongin shrugs, “Eh, teachers are unreliable, and the students in my class don’t care enough to try to hard. I do though, so I thought I’d ask my best bet. So, will you help me?”

“Sure,” Kyungsoo replies. A pivotal rule for being unassuming is that you never try to avoid something more than once.

Kyungsoo holds out his hand for the paper, and with another blinding smile, Jongin hands him a single sheet of paper. It only takes a once over of the paper for Kyungsoo to know that Jongin’s lying through his teeth. He recognizes his own letter. To be fair, Jongin has removed his own speech, Sooyoung’s name, and the closing signature and just left Kyungsoo’s own words. He stifles a laugh at the fact that Jongin’s purposely changed the font from Comic Sans to Times New Roman.

So Kyungsoo was right that Jongin getting the letter was a terrible idea. He will admit that analyzing the letter is a good first move. It’s what he would do if he needed to try to find someone. Unfortunately for Jongin, when Kyungsoo writes as D.O., his writing style is different. So Jongin’s shit out of luck, but Kyungsoo’s not going to tell him that. In fact, Kyungsoo is now extremely excited to fuck with Jongin.

Kyungsoo coughs and rubs over his mouth with his hand to try and eliminate all traces of a smile as he reads his own words.

  _I want you to know that he is not all that he seems. He has a history of deceiving high school girls such as yourself for his own amusement. To prove this to you, the next couple of paragraphs will be a speech he will say to you if you choose to confront him._

_The speech may not conform exactly to what he says, but the point of the message will be similar enough to show you that he is not sincere. I am telling you this because I do not want you to become a victim of his games._

_I hope this letter serves to help you in some way._

Kyungsoo has no exactly idea what kind of essay this would have come from and against his better judgment asks, “Did your teacher tell you anything about the author of the essay? Or what kind of essay this is from?”

Jongin shakes his head as he leans back. The movement seems so natural even though Kyungsoo knows it has to be calculated. The kid’s smooth.

“Not really. They’re all written by high school kids. She did say some of the paragraphs are from short stories that she assigned a couple of years back. So it might be from that.”

It’s a good, non-suspicious answer. Kyungsoo finds his admiration growing. It’s nice to witness Jongin's game at a close distance. Kyungsoo nods along like he’s completely focused on Jongin’s words. He asks another question.

“Was this Xeroxed? Is everything exactly as the student did it? No changes?”

“None at all,” Jongin replies immediately.

 _Well that’s a lie,_ Kyungsoo thinks, but it’ll be useful in what he’s about to do. “Okay, so we’ll start with the font they used. It’s good to note that the default font in Word is Cambria, and this is Times New Roman. The paper requirement sheet is the same throughout the entire school, and it doesn’t dictate that the student use a specific font. So from that you can suppose that it’s by the student’s own discretion that they chose it. Times New Roman is your basic business font, so the student cares to look professional and neat. They also are probably very detail-oriented to change the font at all. Do you understand what I’ve said so far?”

The look of awe on Jongin’s face as he looks up at Kyungsoo is a little heady. Kyungsoo feels a little flustered.

Jongin nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, this is great. You really know your stuff. Uh, out of curiousity, what if someone wrote something in Comic Sans?” And just like that, any warm feelings Kyungsoo has towards Jongin leave him. Jongin’s just putting on an act.

Kyungsoo morphs his face into one of confusion. “Who writes in Comic Sans? It’s such a ridiculous font.”

Jongin nods along. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Forget I asked.”

Kyungsoo looks back at the paper and coughs again to hide another smile. He chose Comic Sans as his font just because it’s so ridiculous. It’s the one thing that keeps his letters unique. People in the past have tried to write D.O. letters, but since very few have actually seen an authentic D.O. letter, none of them have used Comic Sans as the font, which is a dead giveaway. It’s Kyungsoo’s own little failsafe.

“Another mark of professionalism is that the author doesn’t use any contractions in their writing. That also doesn’t really point to any kind of narrative. You’ll usually find a lack of contractions in papers that fall more on the serious side like research essays, business documents, and the like. So it seems unlikely this is a short story. On the other hand, the use of the first person is unprofessional and points to something more personal. If I had to take a guess, the first person and lack of contractions would point to more of a persuasive essay. But that doesn’t take into consideration the actual content of the paragraphs.

“The actual content as you probably know is a warning to a girl about a man from some unnamed narrator. Clearly the man has done this before and the narrator has seen him do it before, and apparently documented it. Most likely more than once. So the man and the narrator have some kind of relationship. I would say the narrator sees the man as some sort of villain given the use of the word ‘victim’. And then the ending is rather polite. I’d even say it’s charming, so I would say the entire thing seems to be a persuasive letter.”

Kyungsoo hands back the paper. He’s done well. He’s given Jongin the exact information he would need if it were indeed for an assignment. But he’s given him nothing substantial as to the exact nature of the person writing the letter. Jongin can’t ask for more without seeming overtly suspicious.

Jongin takes back the paper. He looks overwhelmed at all the information he’s just been given. He blinks quickly as if to clear his mind and looks up at Kyungsoo. “Thanks, man. This is great. This is fantastic. I didn’t even know you could get so much out of a few paragraphs.”

Kyungsoo smiles. “No problem, I’m glad I could help.” He looks out to the soccer fields and sees that the soccer team has left. He can go pick up Minseok from the locker room now.

He gets up to go and almost screams when Jongin’s hand shoots out to grasp his arm. He manages to stifle it before it escapes through his clenched teeth.

“Wait! Uh, I need help with something else. You’re Sehun’s friend, right?”

Kyungsoo stays focused on where Jongin’s hand is wrapped around his forearm as he thinks. He’s pretty sure he knows what Jongin want help with. Sehun’s been giving Jongin the cold shoulder for over two weeks now. Jongin has to be at his wits end.

Kyungsoo trails his eyes up from Jongin’s hand to his face. He looks incredibly earnest, and Kyungsoo doesn’t doubt that. There’s no way he’s not freaked about Sehun’s fickleness.

Kyungsoo makes himself smile. “Not really, I’m just his tutor.” Hopefully that will be enough to put Jongin off and make him go to one of Sehun’s real friends.

It doesn’t work.

“You and Sehun spend a lot of time together though. Do you know if anything’s wrong with him? I’ve been trying to become his friend and he seems rather distant lately.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how to respond that. “Not that I know of, sorry.” He hopes he sounds apologetic enough to disguise his own confusion in the matter.

Jongin’s still not dissuaded.

“Can you please help me? I know he thinks a lot of you. He spoke highly of you as a tutor. If anyone can get through to him, it’s you.”

Fucking Sehun. What the fuck was he doing talking about him to Jongin?

“Yeah sure, I guess,” Kyungsoo replies, fighting to keep his anger under control. After all, a pivotal rule for being unassuming is that you never try to avoid something more than once.

           


	4. Chapter 4

I.

 If anyone were to look up from the commons to the 2nd floor, they might see Minseok talking to a pillar. Behind this pillar is Kyungsoo, who has decided as a precautionary measure that it’s best to not be in any open spaces where he can be seen by anyone and by anyone, he primarily means Jongin.

Minseok glances down into the commons and briefly watches as Jongin talks to Sehun. He’s standing closer than friends would normally stand, but far enough away as to not be too into Sehun’s personal space. Minseok tsks as he looks away. The kid’s good.

Minseok looks back to Kyungsoo who's leaning against the pillar watching Minseok closely. “Is he down there?”

Minseok nods, “Yeah, trying to get in Sehun’s good graces. I don’t think he’ll look up here. You can come out and stop acting like a fucking creep.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Nah, I’m good. I don’t really want to. This is so far out of my control that I’m essentially in survival mode right now.”

“You could just tell Sehun to stop rejecting him.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head again. “The timing would be too weird. I gotta let this play out so it seems natural. My original instructions to Sehun were to play disinterested for three weeks. So Jongin has to suffer for about five more days. My goal is to just be unavailable to Jongin for those five days.”

“You share class with the guy.”

“And I show up right at the bell and leave right as class is dismissed.”

Minseok scoffs, “And you don’t think that’s suspicious.”

“It’d be more suspicious if he tried to talk to me and then I ran. Besides we don’t know each other well enough for him to be suspicious of my comings and goings.”

Minseok gives Kyungsoo a long, hard stare. “Do you ever think that you think too much? Cause I do and I think it’s going to fuck you over one day.”

“Better to overthink than underthink,” is Kyungsoo’s instant reply. It’s a monthly thing for one of his friends to ask this question. While he agrees with them, he’s pissed off enough at the reoccurrence of the question to not answer it directly.

Minseok hums in acknowledgement of the statement. He hadn’t really expected a different answer, so he decides to drop the topic altogether. “The showcase is coming up soon. I bet you anything Jongin’s going to corner you into getting Sehun to come.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. He hadn’t thought of that, but now that Minseok’s said it out loud, Kyungsoo’s certain that Minseok’s right. That’s exactly what Jongin will do. And instinctively, he knows that there’s no way to get out of this. He’ll have to agree to Jongin’s request. So they’ll have to interact soon.

Great.

 

II.

“You don’t like me.”

It’s the second time today that Kyungsoo’s been surprised, and he doesn’t really like the feeling especially this time since it’s Jongin Kim talking. He didn’t want their confrontation to be soon, and he really didn’t expect this to be the beginning of it. Damn, he really needs to find a new study spot.

Kyungsoo looks up and hopes that his face is neutral enough. “What do you mean?” He asks looking up at Jongin. For such an accusation, Jongin looks pretty happy. His smile is reaching his eyes and he’s practically blushing with excitement. Kyungsoo will be the first to admit that body language analysis isn’t his best skill, but he’s willing to bet that even a true expert would be confused by this behavior.

“You. Don’t. Like. Me.” Each word punctuated by a poke to his chest.

Kyungsoo swats Jongin’s hand away from his chest and absentmindedly rubs his chest as he thinks. He’s not going to admit to the accusation, and even if he were, he’s not sure he really dislikes Jongin. So it’s not a lie when Kyungsoo responds, “No, I don’t. I don’t really know you enough to dislike you.” Well, that last part is a lie. Kyungsoo feels like he does know Jongin, but Jongin doesn’t need to know that.

“That’s a very diplomatic answer, but people rarely think through their opinions to such a degree. You don’t like me.”

Jongin’s eagerness is starting to freak Kyungsoo out, so he tries a new approach. “What makes you think I don’t like you?”

Jongin shrugs and slides onto the couch next to Kyungsoo until their sides are plastered to each other, their faces inches apart as they look at each other. Kyungsoo wants to gag. Jongin’s so fucking dramatic. But Kyungsoo has to settle for sliding away until there’s a respectable distance between each other. It just makes Jongin smile wider.

“You’re so nice when we’re face to face and I asked for help with Sehun, but then you became hard to track down. I think you were nice to me because the sooner you agreed with me, the sooner I would leave. But then, of course, when I asked you for help, you disappeared.”

Well shit, would you look at that, Minseok was right.

Kyungsoo decides to just go with it. “Let’s say your right and that I do dislike you. What do you hope to achieve?”

“Well, I find it interesting.”

“That I dislike you? Plenty of people dislike you. Half the school was in love with Sooyoung and then you broke her heart.”

Jongin nods. “Yeah, I know people dislike me, but they usually say it to my face. You tried to be friendly. I think that shows you have a real dislike of me. So, I want to know why? Is it because of Sooyoung?”

God, Kyungsoo has to think quickly. Could he fake having a crush on one of the girls? No, everyone he hung out with was gay. No one would think he was straight. Could he say that he had a crush on Sehun? No, Kyungsoo couldn’t predict how that would go over. It’s too dangerous. Could he say it was a mindless dislike? Jongin wouldn’t believe that for a second.

He groans internally. He hates confrontation. And that really leaves only one choice.

“I don’t dislike you. You just bring a lot of attention, and I don’t really like attention. So I thought that if I minimized our contact, I could avoid attention.” Kyungsoo lowers his head and rubs the back of his neck, hoping it comes off as slightly embarrassed. Hopefully this answer will suffice, and Jongin will respect his wishes.

Not even close.

Jongin looks shocked, but his smile returns almost as quickly as he had lost it except this time it’s a pitying smile, and that’s just so much worse. Jongin reaches out a hand and pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Kyungsoo resists moving away in hopes that it will end sooner. He hates being touched.

“I understand, but I think you and I get along pretty well. I’d like to be friends. Haven’t you ever wanted to be friends with someone who mildly dislikes you?”

Jongin’s not even listening to him! What kind of fucking Prince Charming act is that? Though if Kyungsoo thinks it through, Prince Charming’s only characteristic is to be Charming, and while Kyungsoo doesn’t think Jongin’s going to be as flippant as Sondheim’s Prince Charming, Jongin’s definitely not as in character as Kyungsoo hoped. It’s a little disappointing.

He’s not even being charming.

Kyungsoo represses a sigh. “I don’t dislike you, Jongin. I dislike attention, and you bring it with you wherever you go. Can’t just let me live my life as before?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Nah, because I think you can help me. Sehun likes you and you seem smart and blunt, willing to call me out on my shit. I need a friend like you. My friends are good, but they’re too nice. I need you to tell me if I’m doing something stupid. You get it?”

It’s like Kyungsoo’s reading a book, and Jongin’s watching the movie based off the book. They’re having roughly the same conversation, but it’s not matching up enough for them to make sense of each other. Kyungsoo kind of understands what  Jongin’s getting at. Jongin thinks that Kyungsoo will be harsh with him unlike his own friends. Quite honestly, it sounds like Jongin’s got shit friends. Minseok has been calling Kyungsoo on his bullshit for years.

“Jongin, I don’t want attention. Do you understand this?” Against his better judgment, Kyungsoo’s starting to get annoyed.

The break in Kyungsoo’s stoic demeanor seems to please Jongin. “We don’t have to meet up in school. Actually out of school is better. And maybe you can help me with something.”

Since Jongin’s already seen through his act, there’s no reason for him to agree. “Jongin, look I’ll get Sehun to go to the showcase, and I’ll help you get back in his good graces, but I don’t really want your friendship.”

Jongin only smiles brighter. Kyungsoo has no idea what the fuck is going on now, and briefly wonders if he can just make a run for it. There’s really no way this can get worse. Even Jongin exposing him as D.O. wouldn’t be surprising (actually it would because nothing about this conversation makes Kyungsoo thinks Jongin knows).

“That’s great. That was a favor I wanted to ask you about, but I still want to be your friend. You’re smart and like I said, you seem like a no-bullshit type of guy.”

Okay, this conversation is going nowhere, so it’s time to make a quick escape. Kyungsoo grabs his bag from off the ground, and swings it onto his shoulder. Jongin looks like he’s going to try and grab Kyungsoo’s wrist, but Kyungsoo quickly steps back. He’s learnt his lesson.

“I’ve got to go.”

Kyungsoo begins to walk away, but Jongin calls out one final threat.

“I’ll come find you in the hall and talk to you in front of everybody.”

Kyungsoo freezes. It’s a very effective threat. The only way he can be D.O. is that no one thinks twice about seeing him somewhere. Jongin can and will destroy that in a heartbeat in Kyungsoo doesn’t do something.

Kyungsoo stalks back and stands in front of Jongin, trying to make his face neutral, but his jaw’s too tight for it to be believable. Jongin smirks at him, and for the first time since they’ve officially met, Kyungsoo believes he’s seeing Jongin for who he is.

“I’m busy most of the week, but we can meet, outside of school, on Tuesday afternoons.” That’s a boldface lie, but that’s the only time Kyungsoo’s mother’s out of the house in the afternoons. She knows exactly who Jongin is and what he means to Kyungsoo, and she’s about as subtle as Sehun is.

Jongin smiles brightly, all traces of the smirk gone. “Great. Let’s exchange numbers and I’ll text you.”

Reluctantly, Kyungsoo hands over his phone, the screen already open for a new contact. Jongin types in his info, texts himself, and hands the phone back. Kyungsoo looks at it, and makes a point of looking at Jongin as he deletes the parenthetical (Friend) Jongin’s put next to his name.

“I’ll see you Tuesday,” Kyungsoo manages to get out through gritted teeth as he pockets his phone. He turns around and walks away.

“I can’t wait,” Jongin calls out.

Kyungsoo doesn’t look back. For someone who's purportedly in control, he doesn’t have a lot of control.

 

III.

 

_The day before…_

When Jongin’s at a loss of what to do, he usually vents out loud to Taemin as they sit in his car. Taemin knows all about Jongin’s project and knows the reasons for it. Unlike Suho though, he doesn’t see a problem with it. It’s high school. No one ever expects anything real in high school.

“Sehun ignored me again today, even though I was the perfect fucking gentleman. I tried asking him to study with me for Chemistry since we’re lab partners, but he told me he was busy. Even though I purposely picked a day when swim club doesn’t meet.”

Taemin hums and picks at his nails. “Maybe he feels weird about you being a guy. I’ve never heard of him being with one before.”

Jongin nods. “Yeah, I’ve only ever heard rumors about him being bisexual, but Park ended up switching our seats and I got put next to him, so I thought why not make this challenge even harder. Why not do the most stereotypical character and with a new target altogether? It’s why I started in the first place, and I know I’ve caught Sehun staring at the Chinese Exchange Student’s ass. So I know it’s not a lost cause.”

Taemin looks up during the middle of Jongin’s speech, completely ignoring the last couple of sentences. “Wait, Park switched your seats? Did he say why?” Taemin’s watched D.O. ruin enough of Jongin’s plans to be suspicious of such coincidences.

Jongin shrugs. “Yeah, Park says we need to get used to working with different people.”

Taemin slumps back down in his seat, his suspicion fading away. Park was known for doing bullshit moves like that.

“Anyway, I took it in stride. I was fucking courteous about it, and let it be. But I can’t let this linger any longer though. I don’t have enough time for that. It’s already taking me longer than I would like to get settled into the character. I don’t need this on top of that.”

“There’s really no way to get someone to stop giving you the cold shoulder. You’ll probably just have to wait it out, buddy.”

Jongin fists his hair in frustration. “I don’t have time, man! I’ve asked all of his friends and they didn’t know anything. He’s apparently not acting any different with them. I even asked his fucking tutor for help since Sehun’s with him so much, but I haven’t been able to talk to him since I asked because he’s so fucking busy. I’m shit out of luck.”

Taemin frowns. He doesn’t think this is the first time he’s heard Jongin talk about Sehun’s tutor, which is weird because usually a tutor isn’t that important of a person. “Sehun’s tutor is the guy who helped you with the D.O. letter, right?”

Jongin waves a hand carelessly. “Yeah, Kyungsoo, really smart guy. I didn’t get all the info I wanted, but that was on me since I lied. He agreed to help me with Sehun, but he’s been too busy for me to talk to. I asked Chanyeol about it, and Chanyeol said something about the internship.”

Taemin’s frown deepens and his brows furrow. “Kyungsoo? He’s never too busy to help. I once got him to help me in the dance studio while he was in the middle of taking a test. That’s very unlike him.”

Jongin looks over, very confused. “You know him?”

Taemin nods. “Yeah, everyone does. He’s kind of always there. He’s a good guy to have around. Super calm for the most part. It sounds like he doesn’t want to help you if he’s rushing around. He’s not really one to beat around the bush.”

Jongin stares at Taemin for a long time. Taemin doesn’t mind. Jongin zones out when he’s thinking really hard. Taemin just has to let him take his time.

“He doesn’t like me. He was being friendly to get away from me!” is Jongin’s final conclusion.

Taemin nods. That is indeed what it sounds like Kyungsoo is doing. To be quite honest, he doesn’t blame Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s a behind-the-scenes kind of guy who likes to be helpful while Jongin is… not that.

“Probably, but don’t bother him about it please. Let him be. He’s just a quiet guy who lives a quiet life. He doesn’t need you to bother him.”

“But don’t you think that I should try to befriend someone who doesn’t like me? He’s going to give it to me how it is, and he knows Sehun. He’s the best person to know.”

Taemin groans. “I’m begging you, man. Don’t bother him. I was going to try and get him to help us paint sets for the showcase. I don’t want you to jeopardize my chance.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m essentially at a dead end with the D.O. letter, so my best option is to really focus on Sehun, and Kyungsoo’s going to help with that. I’ll het him to help, man. I promise.”

Taemin looks incredibly skeptical, but he doesn’t say anything else. There’s no way to convince Jongin when he’s this determined.

 

IV.

 

Kyungsoo sits in front of his laptop in his room. He’s in the middle of writing his latest D.O. letter. This one to Ms. Jang, the dance teacher. Jongin might have Kyungsoo under his thumb, but he doesn’t have D.O., and because of that, he’s going to suffer.

It’s while Kyungsoo had been innocently studying in the Art IV room at 4:24 that he had heard the mixed moans and groans of Ms. Jang and Mr. Yoon. He’s a little surprised that they’re still continuing on the affair even though Kyungsoo supposes that it’s not much of an affair since the principal had divorced his wife. Even so, it’s been three years and Kyungsoo’s sure that they’re still being secretive about it. That reeks of emotional constipation on potentially both of their parts.

Kyungsoo would love to investigate it more, but he already decided three years ago to focus on Jongin. Regardless of the state of the affair, it’s most importantly the blackmail that Kyungsoo needs to deal with Jongin, so Kyungsoo sneaks his phone out of his pocket and sets it to record.

Kyungsoo had moved the recording to a cheap USB he had bought on the way home, and it’s what he stares at as he tries to think of how he wants to word this letter. It’s not like he’s asking for anything extreme, but he has to make sure that he’s explicit in his directions. Teachers tended to mess things up if Kyungsoo didn’t hold their hand through the process.

Kyungsoo looks back at his blank screen and the blinking cursor. He places his hands on the keyboard and starts typing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sondheim's Prince Charming is from the musical "Into the Woods" and is known to woo multiple women because he was "raised to be charming, not sincere".


	5. Chapter 5

I.

Kyungsoo’s sitting in an ice cream shop with a plain vanilla cone in hand with Sehun sitting across from him with a hot mess of a fudge sundae in front of him. Kyungsoo quite honestly would love to be doing anything else than eating ice cream in 2 **°** weather, but Sehun had insisted. He claimed that there was nothing better than eating cold things in cold weather. Kyungsoo thinks that it’s bullshit, but that’s not going to stop him from shoving hot chocolate down Sehun’s throat come summertime.

“So we’re going to the showcase?”

Kyungsoo nods and takes another cursory lick of his cone. “Yeah, I think Jongin hopes to impress you with his dancing. It’s proven to be effective in his last three characters. I’m sure it would have impressed Sooyoung if they had lasted long.”

Sehun scrunches his face in confusion. “He’s done it for all of his characters? Dancing can’t possibly fit with all of his characters.”

“Dancing doesn’t fit with any of the characters which is why it proves so effective. It adds depth to an otherwise flat character. When they see him dancing, he becomes more real to them as a person. It helps that all of his dances lean more on the sexy side. It’s a good surprise. I think with you he hopes it will make you more receptive to him.”

Sehun nods and shoves some of his ice cream concoction into his mouth. “Okay. What do I do after the showcase? I think he’ll probably want to hang out. Do I go with him?”

Kyungsoo’s thought about Sehun’s question a lot. While if Sehun goes with Jongin, there’s data to be had as to how Jongin acts after Sehun’s cold shoulder, but it might make the game end too soon. If Sehun doesn’t, Jongin will still be hooked, but it’s a missed opportunity for data. It also makes the game less interesting. And that’s a little less fun for Kyungsoo, but he has to remember that this is a project, not a game. He’s collecting data for behavioral analysis. So the longer he drags on Jongin, the more data he has to collect.

“Turn him down when he asks. Chanyeol’s holding a small party for Baekhyun after the showcase. Come and hang out with us.”

“We can invite Jongin. Everyone at the party already knows what’s up with him. They won’t be surprised. It’s a good chance to observe him close up.”

Kyungsoo is really impressed by how committed Sehun is to this, but he doesn’t want Jongin anywhere near him outside of class. It already sucks that he’s essentially being blackmailed into friendship with his test subject. He doesn’t need to actively seek Jongin out.

“No, it’s a happy occasion, so let’s make it a happy place. No Jongin.”

Sehun smiles brightly, clearly pleased with Kyungsoo’s indirect praise. Kyungsoo smiles back. It’s like having a puppy.

“Okay, I can do that. Can I come over tomorrow to work on Calculus? Partial derivatives are kicking my ass, and I know that they’re going to come up in Physics.”

Kyungsoo gives a bemused smile. “We’re in the middle of partial derivatives in Physics now. Are you paying attention in class?”

Sehun’s face blanks as he takes in the information before he leans forward conspiratorially. “I might be failing physics, Kyung.”

Kyungsoo can’t help the snort that precedes his laughter. For being in entirely upper math and science classes, Sehun’s sure out of it. But Kyungsoo nods, “Yeah, yeah, we can work on it tomorrow as well.”

II.

**To: Sehun Oh**

**Hey Sehun, I’m sorry. I can’t make it today. But I can help you anytime this weekend, okay? We’ll work on the stuff that will be on the cumulative exam.**

Kyungsoo regretfully sends off the text before looking back up at Jongin. Jongin’s sparkling, and he smiles brightly at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo glares at him. “I want you to know that it’s a total dick move to have me cancel a tutoring session.”

Jongin shrugs. “There’s nothing major going on in Calc that it can’t be pushed back until the weekend. It’s fine.”

“I told you that I’m free on Tuesday. Why are you calling on me now?”

“Wednesdays are better for me.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything and just gives Jongin a level stare. Kyungsoo has never wanted to strangle someone more.

“So what do you want to do today?” Jongin asks, completely oblivious to Kyungsoo’s inner desires.

“I want to go tutor Sehun.”

Jongin laughs like Kyungsoo’s just told a joke. Kyungsoo did not just tell a joke. Kyungsoo was being dead serious.

“No, with me.”

“Nothing.” There’s no reason for Kyungsoo to be agreeable when Jongin’s proven that there’s nothing Kyungsoo can do to drive him off.

Jongin frowns like he’s dealing with a child. “Now, Kyungsoo, you’re being very unfriendly.”

Kyungsoo feels his eye twitch, and he guesses it’s a noticeable tick since Jongin’s smile widens even more. Kyungsoo’s surprised the smile hasn’t swallowed his whole face at this point.

“Yeah no, I’m really amazed that blackmail isn’t used to start more friendships. It’s working so well.”

Jongin huffs out a laugh. “I think we could really be friends if you gave it a try, Soo.”

“Don’t call me that,” Kyungsoo replies automatically. No one calls him Soo except his Mom. He hates it. It feels too soft for who he is. He likes the hard sound of ‘K’ in the first syllable; it feels more fitting with his own character.

“But it’s cute like you. You’re so small and squishy. You can call me by a nickname. How about Kai?”

It’s like Jongin has a handbook on every thing that annoys Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s 173 cm, a measly 2 cm under the average. It’s not his fault that Jongin’s taller than the average.

“I’d rather just not call you at all.”

“Soo,” Jongin draws out.

“A movie.” Kyungsoo shoots out through gritted teeth. “Let’s go see a movie.” Anything to get Jongin to shut the fuck up.

Jongin nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, that sounds great. There’s this new one that just came out that I want to see. Let’s go to the one that’s a couple of blocks down.”

Kyungsoo nods in agreement, albeit, less enthusiastically.

On the walk over to the theater, Kyungsoo chooses to think carefully over the Jongin Kim that he’s witnessing. It’s a good chance to analyze the person he’s never managed to get close to despite all the close observation. It’s the silver lining in this “friendship”.

Jongin’s behavior is very similar to Baekhyun’s when he and Kyungsoo first met. Baekhyun would just talk at Kyungsoo without caring what Kyungsoo’s response was or if he even responded at all. And Kyungsoo wonders if this is an interpretation of the Prince Charming character. The enthusiasm and the-won’t-take-no-for-an-answer could be seen as charming. It seems a little outdated, and not nearly as polite as Kyungsoo was expecting. But the character seems more natural to Jongin now, a clear indication that he’s settled into his character. Kyungsoo needs to remember to ask Sehun how he’s responding to the Prince Charming character. He feels a thrill of excitement run up his spine as he realizes he gets access to a new type of information. He finally gets to know how the victims’ react. Aside from Jongin’s motivations, this is the information he’s wanted the most.

Kyungsoo rubs a hand across his mouth to stifle his smile.

“What type of movies do you like, Soo?”

And just like that, the smile’s gone.

“Thrillers, action movies, comedy,” Kyungsoo replies aimlessly. He’s not really picky, except for, “I don’t like romantic movies.”

Jongin looks down at him and hums. “Really? I thought you would have been one of those Secret Romantics.”

Kyungsoo feels his eye twitch again. He feels like this will become a common reoccurrence. “What makes you think that?”

Jongin shrugs. “I don’t know. I just get a vibe from you.”

Kyungsoo chooses not to respond. There’s no way to rationalize with things like ‘vibes’. Fortunately, Jongin respects his wishes and doesn’t try to pursue further conversation.

Unfortunately, it’s only a couple of minutes until they’re at the theater, and Jongin opens his mouth again. He points to a movie poster that has a full side-shot of a man holding a gun. Kyungsoo knows this movie. He’s been trying to get Minseok to see it with him for weeks, but Minseok wanted to wait for it to come out on DVD. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to wait.

“This is the movie I want to see. Is this okay?”

Kyungsoo nods. “Yeah, I’ve also been waiting to see this one.”

Jongin smiles lightly and goes up to the counter to pay. Kyungsoo stands behind him in line, and takes out his wallet to be ready to pay.

“2 tickets to the 4:10 showing, please.”

Kyungsoo’s head shoots up. He’s not going to let Jongin pay for him. He steps forward and leans around Jongin’s lean frame. “He’ll be taking 1 ticket.”

Jongin looks at him briefly before elbowing Kyungsoo back behind him. “No, I will be taking 2.”

Kyungsoo gets up on the balls of his feet so that his head fully peaks over Jongin’s shoulder and vigorously shakes his head. Jongin must feel some of Kyungsoo’s hair brush his neck because he lightly elbows Kyungsoo in the stomach so that Kyungsoo has to drop down.

Jongin snickers at him before turning back to the ticket girl and holds up 2 fingers. “2 tickets please. It’s my friend’s birthday, and this is my present to him.”

Kyungsoo tries to step around Jongin, but Jongin holds an arm behind himself and effectively keeps Kyungsoo corralled behind him.

Jongin successfully gets the ticket and walks into the theater gesturing for Kyungsoo to follow. Kyungsoo scowls at Jongin’s back before turning to the ticket girl.

“It’s not my birthday.” He walks into the theater.

Jongin’s waiting just inside the door with a teasing smile on his face.

“I’m buying your snacks. Got it?”

Jongin nods, smile still firmly fixed on his face. Kyungsoo hopes it gets stuck like that. It’ll serve the bastard right.

“What do you want?”

“I’m not hungry” is Jongin’s instant reply.

Kyungsoo wants to scream. He wants to scream so badly. But this is a public place, so Kyungsoo needs to be polite. He turns to Jongin slowly. “Look man, if you want to be friends, you’ve got to pay. I don’t like it when people pay for me.”

“But I like paying for my friends.”

There’s no getting through to this kid. Kyungsoo tries a more rational approach. “It’s been 4 hours since lunch. You’ve got to be a little hungry.”

Jongin shakes his head. “Nah, not really.”

“Jongin, please.”

Jongin makes a show of tilting his head side to side as if he’s debating it before he shrugs, “Since it is the magic word, I guess I’ll have a popcorn and water.”

Kyungsoo’s going to throttle this kid before he has a chance to expose him. Kyungsoo stalks up to the concession counter and orders a large popcorn, a large water, and nachos. He pays quickly and tries to balance all the items in his hands. He manages to walk away with the popcorn hugged to his chest, the water bottle awkwardly sandwiched between his upper arm and ribs, and the nachos precariously held by the corner in his other hand, the hot cheese burning his fingertips through the thin cardboard.

Kyungsoo speedwalks back to Jongin and practically throws the popcorn at him in order to change his grip on the nachos. Jongin catches the popcorn and swipes the water bottle from under Kyungsoo’s arms. He watches as Kyungsoo blows on fingertips to soothe the burn.

“You should’ve held it on the chip end.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “If you can only grip it on one end, you grip the heavy side, which is the cheese side. You don’t want it to flip.”

Jongin grabs the nacho box by the chip side and holds it out to Kyungsoo to show that it’s not flipping. Kyungsoo scoffs and points to Jongin’s finger on the underside of the box. “You’ve got your fingers stretched out to keep the cardboard from bending. And the cheese side it still sagging, it’s only a matter of time until it’s a mess.”

“Yeah sure, Soo. It’s the cheese side and not your inferior box-holding skills that are the problem here.”

Kyungsoo’s lips draw into a thin line. He takes the nachos back. “We’re going to miss the movie.”

Jongin laughs as Kyungsoo makes his way over to the ticket-taker only to realize he can’t go through because Jongin has their tickets. Jongin smirks triumphantly at him as he hands over the tickets, and Kyungsoo can’t help but feel that Jongin is most sincere only when he smirks.

Kyungsoo follows sullenly after Jongin and begrudgingly says thanks when Jongin opens the door open for him.

They arrive right as the film starts. Kyungsoo’s sure they would’ve been able to catch the previews if Jongin hadn’t been so stubborn.

Regardless of Jongin’s antics prior to entering the theater, he proves himself to be a good movie companion. He doesn’t lean in to talk to Kyungsoo at all, and seems entirely engrossed in the movie the few times Kyungsoo glances over. And so the two hours pass quickly.

When they exit the theater, they both blink to adjust to the harsh lighting.

“I liked it a lot.”

Kyungsoo hums in agreement as he looks at his phone. It’s not that late, and his parents aren’t expecting him home any time soon, but he’s ready to leave. He feels exhausted after dealing with Jongin.

“I’ve got to get home for dinner.” Kyungsoo says as a way of a goodbye and starts to leave.

“Let’s hang out again sometime,” Jongin calls out.

Kyungsoo really doesn’t want to, but he can’t afford for Jongin to talk to him in school, so he settles for a simple, “Tuesday next time.”

“Yeah of course.”

Neither of them believe his words.

III.

Jongin’s leaning back in his seat before Calculus wondering how today’s going to go with Sehun. Sehun’s been slowly warming up again, and Jongin is thinking and rethinking how he’s going to talk and act around Sehun. He can’t afford for Sehun to shut down around him again.

He fiddles with a pencil as he thinks through his strategy. He’s got his character down. He’s polite, friendly, enthusiastic, and always ready to compliment. Nothing he says can be interpreted as crass, and in a school for of hormone-driven teens, the difference in speech is stark. Jongin has to admit that the Prince Charming character doesn’t allow much in the way of humor, but he’s worked it in through gentle quips and teasing. To be totally without humor is boring, and will seduce no one. The character has to be adaptable above all else.

It’s while he musing over his own actions that Sehun comes in and sits down next to him. “Hi Jongin.”

Jongin smiles and returns the greeting. This is a recent development in their relationship: morning greetings. It’s really small in the grand scheme of things, but Jongin will take what he can get. It’s not like he can do anything else.

“What you’d do after school yesterday?”

Sehun shrugs, “Went to swim club, went home, ate dinner, watched TV, did homework, went to bed. Nothing much. You?”

“Dance practice, dinner, sleep. Pretty similar to yours. Any plans for today?”

Sehun shrugs. “Swim club and tutoring. You?”

“Dance and tutoring,” Jongin replies. He wants to rip his hair out with the sheer banality of it all. This isn’t conversation. It barely classifies as small talk. He’s not going to get anything done this way, but if he moves too fast, Sehun will clam up again.

It’s during this mental tirade that Jongin realizes that this is what he does. He creates romantic stereotypes and adapts them until they’re actually as effective as they appear in media. This is his skill. No one does it better than him. Not even D.O. could pull off something like that.

With his ego boosted, Jongin leans a little further into Sehun’s personal space. “I saw an ad for an ocean documentary on the way to school this morning.”

Sehun lights up. Marine Biology is his one, true love. “Oh yeah, it’s for the Mariana Trench. I saw that. It looks good. Apparently it follows the latest expedition down there. I’m really excited for it.”

Jongin smiles prettily, and tilts his head. “I thought so too. I know it’s going to be shown in the IMAX Theater downtown this weekend; do you want to see it together? None of my other friends are really interested in Marine life.”

Jongin watches as Sehun freezes briefly before turning halfway to look behind him, then as if changing his mind swings his head back to look at Jongin. “Yeah, that sounds great. Is Saturday okay?” His voice is pitched higher and he looks like he’s on the verge of breaking out in sweat.

Sehun’s reaction is the definition of suspicious, but Jongin can’t do anything about it. If Jongin so much as glances behind him, Sehun will bolt, so Jongin will have to settle for smiling wider and responding enthusiastically.

“That’s great! If you give me your number, I’ll text you the details. I think the showing on Saturday is mid-afternoon. Do you want to maybe get a meal after that?”

Sehun freezes again, but he relaxes just as fast. Jongin’s dying to know what that reaction means.

“I have tutoring on Saturday nights, so I’d have to leave after the show.”

Jongin nods. That’s fine. He got the date. That’s what really matters. “It’s really cool how dedicated you are to school. I doubt most kids are studying on a Saturday night.”

Sehun coughs out of embarrassment and rubs at the back of his neck. “Eh, it’s nothing man. I just want to get into a good biology program.” Sehun coughs again and fishes out his phone, “Uh, but here’s my phone. You can punch your number in and text yourself. Then text me the details when you get them.”

When Jongin punches his number in, he can’t help but smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone reading this. I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoy what you're reading. As the chapters go on, you'll get more of Jongin's POV and Sehun's eventually. 
> 
> But most importantly, next chapter, you'll get to see what the effect of the D.O. letter from the last chapter


	6. Chapter 6

I.

They’re two weeks away from the Showcase, and Ms. Jang is just now springing this on them. She smiles nervously and coughs to clear her throat of her discomfort. She can feel the tension in the room. They’re angry with her. She’d be angry too if she were in their position, but she doesn’t have a choice.

“So like I said, I will only write three recommendation letters this year, and I will choose who those three are based on the performances at the Showcase and the Dancehibition in April. With that said, I would encourage you to think about choreographing solos or duets for the Showcase and the same for Dancehibition. If you decide to do a solo or duet for the Showcase, please come talk to me so I can put you in the lineup. The lineup will be finalized this Friday, so make sure to speak to me before then. Do you all understand?”

There are grumbles of assent. It’s the best she can hope for, so she goes back to her chair and sits down.

“Alright! We’re starting with the first group number. Everybody get in place!”

II.

Baekhyun’s sitting at Kyungsoo’s kitchen table with his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I did it again.”

“Did what, sweetie?” Mrs. Do asks from where she’s stirring a pot on the stove.

Baekhyun doesn’t answer; too busy berating himself under his breath.

“He delivered another letter for me.” Kyungsoo responds from the other side of the kitchen. His eyebrows are furrowed as he focuses on trying to dice the carrots into perfect 1 cm cubes.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over that. You’re doing a good thing. Jongin can’t keep treating people this way.”

“I’m going to get caught one day, and you know administration’s going to expel me if they think I’m D.O.

Kyungsoo scoffs. “You’re not going to get caught. I sent you to deliver it during a staff meeting.”

“Kyungsoo will look after you,” Ms. Do says with a wink in Baekhyun’s direction as she throws some salt into the pot.

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Calm down. It’s the least risky part of the entire ordeal.”

“Then get Chanyeol to do it.”

“No. Chanyeol’s too tall and bumbles around like a child. The only reason I had him put it in Sooyoung’s locker was because his locker’s right next to hers. You’re honestly the best choice for it. Out of the four of us, you’re the most likeable, so you’re the most likely to not get into trouble.”

“I think you’re likeable.”

“Thanks, Mom. Besides, man, I think this’ll be the last D.O. letter. Unless he does something completely unexpected, I don’t see a reason to write anymore of them. I don’t need to give one to Sehun because he knows what’s up. You’re safe from my demands.”

Baekhyun snorts. “I’ll never be safe from your demands as long as I know you’re D.O. Do you know how nervous I feel knowing that you’re essentially going as D.O. to the Showcase? You’re getting too close, man. This is only going to go south.”

“It’s completely safe. Sehun’s sitting with his friends from Swim and I’m sitting with Yeol and Min. There’s nothing suspicious. I always go to Showcase. He’s not going to care.”

Mrs. Do perks up at that last sentence. “Jongin’s in the Showcase?”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replies, almost slicing his finger in a moment of carelessness, “He’s in the Dance Club and in the actual class, so he’s in a lot of the dances. Wide range of genres.”

“And he performs every year?”

“Yup.”

Mrs. Do slams down the ladle and turns to look at her son. “Kyungsoo Do, do you mean to tell me that I could have seen Jongin already if I had just come to the Showcase?”

Kyungsoo hisses under his breath. He hadn’t been thinking.  “Technically, yes.”

She points at both of them. “Your father and I are coming to the Showcase. I’ve always wanted to meet Jongin and it’s always a pleasure to hear our Baekhyunnie sing.”

Baekhyun smiles sunnily at her. She smiles back before turning around to continue stirring the pot. “So when is it? Your father and I will make a date of it.”

Kyungsoo puts down the knife to turn around, eyes wide, lips thin, and vigorously shakes his head at Baekhyun. Baekhyun grins like the Cheshire Cat.

“Next Saturday, 7pm, School Auditorium. It’s free, but we take donations to fund the Fine Arts Program.”

Kyungsoo huffs and turns back to the carrots. There’s no going back now. “Mom, you’re not allowed to talk to Jongin.”

“Your mother’s meeting Jongin?” Mr. Do asks, entering the kitchen. They all whip around to look at him. None of them had heard the front door open.

“Jaesoo, did you know that we could have seen Jongin at the Showcase?” Mrs. Do asks with an accusing stare at Kyungsoo.

“Is that true, Kyungsoo?” Mr. Do asks, wide eyes rivaling Kyungsoo’s own.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo draws out, annoyed. This is going too far. “Technically yes, Jongin’s performed at every Showcase, so you could’ve potentially seen him.”

“We’re going to go this time. It’s next Saturday, 7pm,” Mrs. Do supplies helpfully.

“Oh, good. I’ve always wanted to meet Jongin.”

“Neither of you are allowed to talk to him.”

“We don’t want to talk to him,” Mr. Do says, trying to calm his son. (“I want to talk to him,” Mrs. Do grumbles under her breath.) “We just want to see the boy you’ve been studying. He’s quite literally your _magnum opus_. You’ve been focused on nothing else.”

“Yeah, Kyung. You don’t pay attention to anyone except Jongin.”

Kyungsoo glares at Baekhyun. “Stop that.”

“This is so exciting. I feel like we’re meeting your boyfriend.” Mr. Do wonders aloud. Sometimes he thinks he knows Jongin better than his own son. He still remembers the day Kyungsoo first mentioned Jongin.

_“Mom, there’s this kid at school, and he dresses like a nerd, but it doesn’t fit, you know?” Kyungsoo says suddenly during dinner one night. His tone is halting and brow furrowed like he’s come upon a curiosity._

_Mrs. Do looks up from her plate. “Appearances don’t have to match personalities, Kyungsoo. You should know that.”_

_Kyungsoo shakes his head. His mom doesn’t understand. “No, it’s not like that. I know that. It’s like he’s trying to act like a nerd, you know? It’s not his actual personality, it’s something he’s trying to consciously act like.”_

_Mrs. Do scrapes at her plate while she tries to process what her son is saying. Mr. Do takes his chance to step in. “If he is acting, what do you think his purpose is?” Mr. Do is always very intentional with his questions, something he’s developed being married to Mrs. Do, and he knows that his son doesn’t say anything unless he has some sort of idea._

_Kyungsoo’s brow furrows further as he tries to organize his thoughts. “I’m unsure to be honest. He’s been hanging around Luna lately, who's the most popular girl at our school, and that’s kind of odd, you know? She didn’t give him the time of day, and then they got paired for a project, and it’s escalated since then. It’s just too much like a k-drama, you know? And then sometimes if you watch him, he has these smirks on his face, and they just don’t match up with this personality he’s presenting.”_

_Kyungsoo’s rambling and the more he talks the more his brow furrows until it’s at risk of becoming a unibrow; his brain’s going a mile a minute as he tries to process all the information. Mr. Do has never seen Kyungsoo so puzzled, not even when a 7-year-old Kyungsoo tried to figure out why their next-door neighbor’s gardener kept going into the house._

_“It sounds intentional then. Maybe you should observe him some more,” is the reply Mrs. Do finally settles on. Kyungsoo’s always been curious and meticulous, and Mrs. Do always encourages this behavior. “Write it down, and analyze it. Perhaps you’ll get something from it.”_

_Kyungsoo’s eyes widen in excitement at the prospect of this project, “Yeah. I’ll do that. Thanks, Mom.”_

“Dad,” Kyungsoo scolds.

“I know he’s not, Kyungsoo. But he’s been a significant part of your life. It’s an analogous feeling.”

“If it helps, he’s super attractive,” Baekhyun adds unhelpfully.

“Is he?” Mrs. Do asks, much too interested for Kyungsoo’s taste.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo says suddenly. “I’m just going to slide these carrots in, so dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. Everyone wash up and Baekhyun get out.”

“You can stay for dinner, Baekhyunnie.”

“MOM!”

III.

Jongin’s standing in front on the IMAX Theater, five minutes before his agreed time with Sehun. To be honest, he feels really guilty. He should be working on perfecting his choreography for his solo for the Showcase. It had been a spur of the moment decision brought on by Ms. Jang’s announcement. Jongin has no idea what she was thinking springing that on them last minute. To learn a new dance in under two weeks when they already have school and homework is too cruel. And here Jongin is, waiting for his date with Sehun, as if he doesn’t have a giant deadline looming over his head. But this is important too.

He’s been working on his project for too long to stop now. He’s already running behind schedule, but the desire to play the Original Stereotype was too great, so he launched into it less prepared than he should have. It’s going as well as can be expected, and to his knowledge, he doesn’t think D.O. has done anything. If Sehun confronts him, Jongin knows to change the way he’ll explain things, so D.O. won’t be able to copy his speech patterns. So he’s secure that this will go well with Sehun and he’ll finally be able to end his project on his own terms.

On the other hand, he’s planning on majoring in Dance, so he really needs that recommendation letter from Ms. Jang. And every second spent not practicing is decreasing his chance of getting that recommendation letter. It’ll be just his luck that some fucker who's not even majoring in dance will get his recommendation letter. Shit, he should really be working on his dancing right now.

“Jongin! Hey! I’m sorry that I’m late!” Sehun says running up to him, slightly out of breath.

Jongin smiles genially. “We have plenty of time. How are you?”

Sehun smiles back. “I’m good. It’s been a good day. And yourself?”

Jongin continues to smile genially. “I’m also good. I’ve been working on my solo for Showcase.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know you had a solo.”

“Yeah, I think the more I have to submit with my college applications, the better. Would you like to go inside? I already bought our tickets.” is the response Jongin decides on. It’s a bit much to air his grievances to his Sehun. Prince Charming wouldn’t burden his significant other with his own problems until well into the romance.

Sehun nods. “Yeah, it starts pretty soon.”

Jongin nods, the smile still plastered on his face. He walks two paces to the left of Sehun. It’s not so close that he’ll bump into Sehun, but not so far out of Sehun’s personal space that an outsider would think this is their first time meeting.  Jongin makes sure his strides are even with Sehun’s so that he’s exactly in line with the other boy. Jongin needs to make sure he’s available to Sehun in every way possible for this to work. When they get to the door, Jongin speeds up to grab the door first and open it for Sehun. Sehun bows slightly in thanks to him before entering. Jongin makes to follow, but a huge group is close to entering as well, so Jongin stays back and holds the door open for all of them. It takes forever. Everyone and their aunt is at the IMAX this afternoon.

Sehun’s waiting just inside the door and the smile he gives Jongin as his eyes flick to all the people Jongin held the door open for is what makes it all worth it. Sehun does seem impressed with how polite he is, and that’s really all Jongin can ask for. It’s a slow build-up, but Jongin’s definitely on the right path.

Jongin gives a small smile in greeting as he reunites with Sehun. “Do you want anything from the concession stand?”

Sehun chuckles. “I think I should be the one asking you that. You bought the tickets, the least I can do is buy you your snacks.”

Jongin shakes his head lightly. “No, please. I asked you here. Let me buy them for you.” Jongin makes sure to soften his smile so that it will come off as more imploring. Jongin knows how this smile affects people. It makes them feel important and most of them blush under that kind of attention.

Sehun ducks his head. “Okay. I’d like a small popcorn and water. You have to let me pay you back though.”

“You can pay me back by being my partner for the Calculus Project. The thought of having to solve the problem sheet and then build a 3D model of it scares me.”

And very briefly, Jongin sees Sehun freeze before he responds. “Yeah sure.”

Jongin smiles genially, choosing to file away the moment for analysis later. “Thanks. I’m going to buy our snacks.”

Sehun nods eagerly. “Cool, cool. I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you back here?”

Jongin agrees and gets in line, watching as Sehun walks rather quickly to the bathroom. Jongin wonders why he didn’t leave earlier to go. It’s not like Jongin was going to stop him. It’s a little odd, but Jongin doesn’t really know Sehun well enough to come to any conclusions or classify any behavior as odd yet.

The line is short, the food is overpriced, and within five minutes, Jongin’s making his way back with two popcorns and two waters. Sehun’s standing under the Mariana Trench Poster looking very happy to see Jongin come back.

He doesn’t even wait for Jongin to be back next to him before he’s calling out to him. “Hey Jongin, what do you think about asking Chanyeol to join our group? Mr. Lim said we can have 2-3 people in a group, and this way, we can have Chanyeol tutoring us as well.”

Jongin’s not pleased with the suggestion even if he understands the logic behind it. He’s not the best with Calculus and since Chanyeol is his tutor, it’s probably best to work with him. But, Jongin’s not sure how having Chanyeol with them will affect his progress with Sehun.

“Is he not working with Kyungsoo?”

Sehun shakes his head. “Kyungsoo and Chanyeol aren’t allowed to work together for projects.”

“Then do you not want Kyungsoo since he’s your tutor?” Jongin would prefer Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo is at least supposed to be helping him with Sehun.

The question seems to throw Sehun for a loop, and he flounders for a few seconds. “Uh, well, Kyungsoo’s busy because… he’s helping Mr. Lee with the showcase… and he has his internship… and he’s not good with group work. Chanyeol’s better and I’m better with Calculus than you, so we should utilize your tutor.”

There’s so much going on in Jongin’s head. Sehun’s listed way too many reasons for not wanting Kyungsoo, which means one of two things. First option is that Sehun hates Kyungsoo, which is extremely unlikely. The second option, and the most likely option, is that Sehun knows that Kyungsoo doesn’t like Jongin. And that’s extremely funny to him. Jongin’s got to make sure to somehow make time to annoy Kyungsoo. Jongin’ll text him tonight.

But for the present, he smiles pleasantly. “Alright. That sounds great. I’ll take all the help I can get. We should probably go into the theater. It’s starting soon.”

Sehun looks relieved to have gotten through the conversation and nods eagerly. They’re silent as they enter the theater, Jongin making sure to let Sehun enter first. Jongin feels like he should initiate conversation, but Sehun looks so enthralled with how big the theater is, Jongin decides to stay silent and let Sehun make the next move.

The documentary is good. The best parts are the underwater scenes when the whole theater feels like they’re descending with the documentary crew. Jongin actually shivers at times; it’s so believable. Next to him, Sehun makes quiet noises of awe and excitement, and is practically wriggling with excitement every time any kind of marine life comes on screen. Jongin finds that he actually enjoys the documentary, which is a pleasant surprise.

When they exit the theater, Sehun’s beaming and Jongin’s listening to him babble in excitement. “It was so good. When they showed the ghost shark, I wanted to take a picture. It’s so amazing to think that its never seen or felt sunlight, and we haven’t even reached the bottom of the Trench yet. There’s so much we haven’t seen yet. Thanks for coming to see this with me!”

Jongin laughs, infected by Sehun’s excitement. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I know you said that you have to go after the movie, but are you sure you don’t have time for a quick bite to eat?”

Sehun looks like he wants to say yes, no doubt eager to continue talking about the documentary, but his sense of duty wins in the end. “Uh, I’d like to, but I do have to go to tutoring. I had fun though. We should do something again.”

Jongin nods eagerly. He didn’t even have to suggest a second date. It’s all Sehun. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

“Cool. Great. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Yeah, see you Monday.” Jongin waves as Sehun leaves first. Once he’s sure Sehun’s out of sight, he pulls out his phone.

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Isn’t it funny that the more you avoid me, the more I’m going to find you? We’re hanging out the Sunday after Showcase. I’m coming over to your house.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this early because I have to write my term paper this weekend.
> 
> Next up: The Showcase


	7. Chapter 7

I.

“Why can’t I sit with you again?” Sehun whines for the nth time since entering the auditorium. “You’re the only reason I’m here in the first place.”

“We need you front and center for Jongin, and it’s odd if you sit with us. Jongin doesn’t know that we’re as good of friends as we are. We need to keep it that way. The further I am away from him, the less he’ll suspect me of being D.O. Besides we’re hanging out tonight.”

“Okay,” Sehun draws out reluctantly. “But I’m not happy about it.”

“Neither am I,” Kyungsoo agrees, taking his first look at the program. “Motherfucker, there’s six new dance numbers. This will go on forever.”

“This is your fault, Kyung.”

Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose. “I expected three new dances at most. I was very careful with what I wrote. There are only three in the entire class and club who are expecting to major in Dance. I made sure not to fuck anyone over who would really need the rec letter from Ms. Jang. But six, man. We all have seven classes. There are plenty of options for letters. What the fuck, man? What non-Dance major needs a rec letter from Ms. Jang that bad?”

Sehun looks closer at the program. “One of these is a duet for Taemin and Jongin. So that at least explains the fourth dance, but yeah two of these are superfluous then. Oh well. At least, Baekhyun’s closing. That’s something to look forward to.”

Kyungsoo nods and looks closer at his own program. It is severely unbalanced now thanks to him. Too many dance performances for how many music performances there are. It’s a little suspicious, but only if you’re looking for that kind of thing. Chances are someone attending a high school showcase is not looking for that kind of thing.

Sehun sighs dramatically. “I guess I’ll be leaving now. To go sit by myself to watch a showcase. Alone.”

Kyungsoo laughs. “Go sit with the swim team. I’ll find you after it’s over, and we can drive to Chanyeol’s. Go. Yixing’s waiting for you.”

Sehun wrinkles his nose at Kyungsoo before heading over to Yixing. Kyungsoo sticks his tongue out at him before turning around to try and find his friends. It doesn’t take a lot of looking to find Chanyeol waving both hands vigorously, at risk of hurting everyone in a two-foot radius.

Kyungsoo makes his way over quickly, hoping to end Chanyeol’s waving before someone gets hurt.

“You’re late!” Chanyeol says accusingly.

“It doesn’t start for another 10 minutes, Yeol. And then Baekhyun’s the last one.”

“They’re not letting anyone in or out after the doors close.”

Minseok shakes his head. “There are over twenty pairs of grandparents here. There’s no way you can adhere to that rule with this many old people.”

“Yeah, Yeol, too many old people.”

“Sit down, Kyung. We’re here for Baek.”

Kyungsoo takes a seat next to Minseok with a raise of his eyebrows. Boyfriend Chanyeol is always difficult to reason with. Chanyeol gives Kyungsoo a final glare before taking a seat next to him.

“Soo, there’s too many dance to music performances. I expect better from you.”

Kyungsoo whirls around at his mom’s voice. “MOM! I told you to sit somewhere else.”

Mrs. Do points to the program. “This is sloppy. You should’ve sent a letter to the choir teacher to even it out.”

“Yeah, Kyung, it’s sloppy. What the fuck were you thinking?” Minseok jabs the corner of his program into Kyungsoo’s chest.

“Language, Min.”

“Sorry, Mr. Do.”

“They’re right though, Kyung. It is very odd that there’s more dance than music performances. A high school would make sure to keep it even.”

“It was an oversight!”

“All it takes is one small mistake to ruin the entire study, Soo.” The seriousness in Mrs. Do’s voice is too much for Kyungsoo right now. He knows he made a mistake. He doesn’t people to keep harping on him.

“Okay, you know what? The Showcase is starting soon. We should all quiet down.”

And as if the lights have been waiting for his command, they dim.

Kyungsoo settles down into his seat. “Fucking finally.”

“Language, Kyung.”

“Sorry!”

II.

The Showcase is great. Kyungsoo finds the modern dance numbers a little boring and every dance number over the original 10 makes him bite his upper lip in annoyance. Kyungsoo sits up when Jongin gets on stage and smiles in delight when he sees him focused entirely on Sehun during the sexier parts. Both Jongin and Kyungsoo smile wider when Sehun blushes profusely. The only annoying thing is Mrs. Do leaning forward to whisper into his ear, “Oh honey, he IS cute.”

Baekhyun, though, is amazing. As the final note rings out, the auditorium explodes into applause with Chanyeol jumping straight to his feet. Minseok and the Do’s are close behind. Baekhyun beams at the crowd while he waits for the rest of the performers to come out. They all take a bow to roaring applause and then the lights come on.

Kyungsoo quickly pushes his parents toward the exit. He doesn’t trust his mother not to go introduce herself to Jongin, and he’s right. It takes both Kyungsoo and Mr. Do to get her out the door. It's only after Kyungsoo promises to take the time to introduce them tomorrow at breakfast does she finally leave willingly. Kyungsoo watches the door for a good three minutes just to make sure she doesn’t somehow sneak back in.

It’s in his haste to get his mother out of the door that he doesn’t see Jongin come to whisk Sehun away. Only when he’s turned away from the door and can’t find Sehun, does he realize he’s fucked up again.

“Tonight is not my night. Shit!”

He calls out to Taemin who's talking with some guys from the Judo club. “Hey Taemin, have you seen Sehun?”

Taemin points to somewhere near the stage. “He’s with Jongin up there. I wouldn’t interrupt though. Jongin’s got a thing for Sehun. They could use the alone time if you know what I mean.” He smirks and wriggles his eyebrows.

“Great. So by the stage, right? Thanks.” Kyungsoo moves past Taemin and briefly wonders why he even bothered.

It takes some maneuvering and squeezing to get past the crowd of people, but he eventually ends up behind Jongin and in Sehun’s eye line. Sehun’s eyes widen and Kyungsoo shakes his head vigorously to dissuade Sehun from calling him over. In response, Sehun focuses back on Jongin and even stops him from looking behind him to see what Sehun was looking at.

Kyungsoo looks around him and manages to see a group of drama kids nearby. He steps in and joins their conversation on the school musical _Into the Woods_. Keeping one eye on his test subject, Kyungsoo talks about the brilliancy of James Lapine. He almost swallows his tongue when he sees Jongin and Sehun step into a hug. He recovers his thought and continues talking, his brow more furrowed as he watches Jongin walk away. He continues talking for a few minutes before he makes his way over to Sehun.

Sehun pockets his phone when Kyungsoo walks up. “Hey Kyung, are you ready to go?”

“Uh yeah, my car’s out back. Let’s go.”

Kyungsoo waits till they’re in the safety of his car. “You let him hug you?”

Sehun nods and squirms a bit in his seat. “Yeah. It’s just he asked me to hang out and I told him that I had plans and he just looked so sad, like a puppy. So I offered a hug and said we could hang out later.”

Kyungsoo keeps his face straight as he starts up his car. Jongin’s amazing. He got Sehun to initiate the hug by just looking sad, and he got a next date. It’s so impressive that Jongin’s that in control of his conquest. Kyungsoo suppresses a shiver of excitement. This is the Jongin he's been waiting for.

“That’s good. It’s a small step for him, but it’s significant. Just keep it at the pace you’re going.”

Sehun nods, but Kyungsoo sees from the corner of his eye that Sehun still looks uncomfortable.

“What’s bothering you, man?”

Sehun shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s just that when he compliments me it makes me feel good and it makes me blush. I think that I’m starting to like him even though I know he’s a snake.”

Kyungsoo scrunches his nose. This is a worst-case scenario. He needs to tread carefully. “I mean feelings aren’t rational, so it doesn’t really matter if you know he’s a snake. You’re reacting to how he acts around you. So you might have feelings for him, but I mean, it’s also possible that you’re blushing because he’s paying attention to you. It’s normal to blush when people compliment us on things we care about or pride ourselves on. We like to be noticed for our good qualities and it’s nice when someone does.”

Sehun nods along thoughtfully. “I get what you’re saying, but what if I blush because I do like him?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “If you do like him, it’s best to admit it to yourself. Denying something like that leads to all sorts of problems. I won’t ask you to do anything more with the project if you do, but I will tell you that I don’t plan on stopping. Before the year is out, I will expose him for what he is.”

“I get it. I don’t think I do, by the way. Like him, that is. I was a little freaked out by the way I responded to him, but I think your right. I do like the attention, but it is similar to when Coach compliments me when I have a good time. It’s hard though to remember sometimes. He is very charming. It almost makes me forget about that stupid rumor back from when we were sophomores. My girlfriend broke up with me because of that rumor, and it’s all Jongin’s fault.”

Sehun’s rambling. Kyungsoo just lets him get it all out. It has to be confusing being pursued by a hot guy who you know is a snake.

“But he’s really hot.”

“I know, Sehun.”

“And he’s a good dancer.”

“I know, Sehun.”

III.

 Kyungsoo’s lounging on the front steps of his house, waiting for Jongin. It’s 10 am and Kyungsoo wants to kill himself. He had to get up at 7am after going to bed at 5, to drive home from Chanyeol's in time to clean up his room of anything incriminating. He’s so tired and he has to deal with Jongin when he’s not at his best. This is destined to be terrible.

Jongin strolls up the sidewalk and stops right at Kyungsoo’s feet. “Good morning, Soo.”

Kyungsoo raises his hand to block the sun so he can look up at Jongin. “I thought you would have wanted to sleep in after the Showcase.”

“I’ll do anything to hang out with my squishy friend.” Jongin’s smile curls up lazily.

Kyungsoo’s eye twitches. Against all odds, he’s managed to become something of importance to Jongin. Kyungsoo had hoped that Jongin would spend all of his free time working on his solo and duet. When he had talked to Eunhyuk, Eunhyuk had said he was going to spend every minute perfecting his dancing, and Kyungsoo thought Jongin would have the same plan. Jongin’s probably practicing a lot, but for some strange reason, he’s decided to carve time out of his packed schedule to annoy Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo feels his eye twitch again.

Kyungsoo sighs and gets up, dusting off the seat of his pants. “Well, let’s get this over with.” He vaguely brings the corners of his mouth up in a smile. “Please, come inside.”

Jongin laughs behind him as Kyungsoo opens the door to his front house. Kyungsoo makes a point of toeing off his shoes slowly so that Jongin will follow suit without Kyungsoo having to tell him.

“You really don’t want me here, do you?” Jongin asks as he toes off his own shoes. He’s laughing through a smirk and it’s really pissing Kyungsoo off.

“I don’t know what gave you that impression.” Kyungsoo mutters sarcastically as he starts walking down the entryway to the kitchen.

Jongin follows behind looking up at all the photos lining the entryway. “Ah, look at you. You were such a chubby little baby. Cute.”

Kyungsoo clenches his fists. Only a few more steps until they’re out of the hallway.

“Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Jongin.”

Mr. and Mrs. Do are sitting casually at the breakfast table, drinking coffee. It’s too casual. Kyunsoo can clearly tell they're prepared for Jongin's arrival.

Kyungsoo had strictly informed his parents on how to behave when Jongin came over. It hadn’t taken a lot of time. Both of them knew how much this meant to Kyungsoo and had promised not to give him away.

Mrs. Do smiles sunnily. “Oh, good morning, Jongin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jongin bows slightly and smiles back, equally as sunnily. “Good morning, ma’am. Thank you for having me.”

Mrs. Do titters. “Please, call me Sua. This is Kyungsoo’s father, Jaesoo.”

“Good morning, Jongin. How do you know Kyungsoo?”

“We have class together, and Chanyeol’s my tutor, so we just started hanging out.”

It’s a good lie, Kyungsoo concedes. It’s not like Jongin can just tell Kyungsoo’s parents that he’s blackmailing their son.

“I think we’re going to go hang out in my room.” Everything’s going fine now, but Kyungsoo’s not going to push his luck. 

Kyungsoo’s trying to herd Jongin up the stairs when Mrs. Do calls out to him. “Oh Kyungsoo, don’t take Jongin up there yet. I’m sorry, Jongin, but my son isn’t the cleanest person around. Soo, why don’t you go up and try to straighten up your room real quick?”

Kyungsoo shoots his mom a look. She knows he spent all of this morning cleaning his room. What is she talking about?

“Yeah, Kyung. Try to straighten it up and don’t forget to reshelve your books. Don’t just shove them in the gaps at the top.” Jaesoo adds in.

Since Jongin’s in front of him, clearly amused at the turn of events, Kyungsoo doesn’t bother hiding his confusion. His parents are clearly trying to hint at something, but he doesn’t know what it is. But he decides to go with it. These are the people who raised him after all.

“Yeah, I’ll go do that. Jongin, do you mind staying down here for a few minutes?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Not at all. Please take your time.”

“Why don’t you sit down, Jongin? Would you like some coffee?”

Jongin slips into the third chair like he belongs there. “No, thank you. I don’t drink coffee, but I’ll take some orange juice if you have it.”

“Of course.” Mrs. Do replies as she gets up to get an extra glass.

Relieved that everything will be fine down here, Kyungsoo quickly escapes upstairs to his room.

His room is spotless. He was so sure to get rid of everything related to D.O. He put every picture, note, and letter in a box and hid it in his parents’ room. He even made sure to look under his bed, so what is he missing?

What did his dad say? The bookshelf.

Kyungsoo slowly walks over to his bookshelf, scanning up and down for anything out of place. There’s nothing that he can see. In fact, he hasn’t even touched his bookshelf since he shelved the last “Death Note”.

Kyungsoo hisses under his breath. Of course, his notebooks! How could he forget about them? They’re the most incriminating things he has in regards to D.O. and he almost brought Jongin into his room with them out in the open. How could he have been so careless?

Quickly, he gathers them into his arms and runs across the hallway to his parents’ room and adds them to the box. It’s a quick sprint back to his room to rearrange his books to hide where the notebooks were, and then he’s back down stairs. Jongin and his parents are laughing about something when he gets back down.

“Taemin was sneezing glitter for days.” Jongin finishes to howls of laughter from Mr. and Mrs. Do.

They’re getting along too well. Kyungsoo’s got to nip this in the bud right now.

“Hey, Jongin. You can come up now.”

“Oh, great! Jaesoo, Sua, thank you for the orange juice and the company. I hope we can do this again.”

Kyungsoo can’t stop from rolling his eyes. Jongin’s laying it on a little thick. “Come on, Jongin. We can’t hang out for long. I have to start my homework soon.”

“Pushy, pushy.” Jongin replies teasingly as he pushes Kyungsoo’s glasses back up his nose when he passes by him. Kyungsoo scowls and swats Jongin’s hand away.

Once Jongin’s a sufficient way up the stairs, Kyungsoo turns to his parents and whisper yells “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” They whisper yell back through highly amused grins.

Kyungsoo bounds up the stairs to make sure Jongin’s not doing anything he’s not supposed to be doing.

Mr. Do waits until his son’s a sufficient way up the stairs. “They’re so cute. Both thinking they’re so clever.”

“But Kyungsoo’s cleverer.”

“Oh, most definitely. Jongin's not going to know what hit him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this and commenting and leaving kudos. Just thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little shorter than usual. I've got three papers to write and two weeks to do it, so for the next couple of week they'll be shorter than usual. 
> 
> Also I've used the word "queer" in this chapter. It's not used as a slur, but if that bothers you, please be warned.

I.

Kyungsoo keeps his door open. It’s an unusual occurrence for him. He likes his privacy, but he doesn’t need nor want privacy with Jongin.

Jongin doesn’t notice Kyungsoo’s choice. He’s too busy looking around at Kyungsoo’s room. He’s too interested in the room for how plain it is.

Kyungsoo’s room consists of a single twin bed pushed against the far wall, two bookshelves neatly packed with books, and a desk and chair next to the bed. The walls are unadorned and the desk is empty except for Kyungsoo’s laptop. The most interesting thing about the room is the glass chessboard on top of the leftmost shelf.

“Your parents are real sticklers, huh? I’ve never seen a cleaner room, but they made it sound like it was a real mess.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “They think that an organized room is a organized mind.” It’s a lie, of course, but what isn’t at this point?

Jongin hums and grins as he spins around to face Kyungsoo. “I like it. It suits you. So clean, meticulous, small. It’s like you’re your room personified.”

Kyungsoo’s eye twitches.

“I’m so glad it meets your approval,” Kyungsoo drawls out. He scuffs his socked foot against the hardwood floor. Realistically, he has to hang out with Jongin for an hour before he can kick him out. The question is how to fill that hour.

“So what are we going to do?”

Kyungsoo’s head whips up at the question. “What?”

“What are we going to do?” Jongin’s face is deceivingly innocent.

The phrasing of the question rankles Kyungsoo. “Why don’t you suggest something?”

Jongin smirks briefly before shaking his head, face morphed back into one of perfect innocence. “Oh no, I’m the guest. The host should decide on the activities.”

Kyungsoo gives Jongin a long, hard look before looking around his room. “Well there’s nothing in here for two people, so we can go back down to the living room and watch a movie.”

Jongin shakes his head again. “Nah, we’ve already seen a movie together. We should do something where we can still talk to each other.” He points behind himself to the chessboard. “Let’s play chess.”

Kyungsoo withholds a sigh and moves to get the chessboard. It’s as he goes to grab his desk chair so he can reach the chessboard that Jongin calls out, “Oh right! I forgot you’re so tiny. Don’t worry. I’ve got it.”

Kyungsoo takes a step back and watches Jongin lift the chessboard gingerly from the bookshelf. “Wow, another short joke. Those never get old.”

Jongin grins back at Kyungsoo, chessboard successfully rescued. “It’s cause I’m so original.”

Kyungsoo hates when people undercut his sarcasm, but there’s no point in arguing this over with Jongin. “I’m white.”

Jongin nods and goes to set the board on Kyungsoo’s bed. “Okay, you go first then.”

“Wait! Not on the bed. We’ll play on the floor. The pieces will fall if we play on the bed.” Kyungsoo practically shouts out, alarmed. His bed is off-limits to everyone but Minseok. It’s where he sleeps and he’s a little anal about people getting his bed dirty. It took Minseok seven years of friendship before he was even allowed to sit on it.

Jongin stares at him a little oddly before sitting down next to the bed. He places the chessboard gently down in front of him. “Okay, let’s play here.”

Kyungsoo’s very thankful that Jongin doesn’t question his outburst, and sits down across from him. Jongin looks at him silently and Kyungsoo wonders if he spoke too soon.

“Are you going to leave the door open?”

Kyungsoo blinks rapidly as if that’ll help him think through the question quicker. “Ah yeah. House rule. I can’t have the door closed when I have a boy in my room.”

Jongin laughs. “Why? Are you gay?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo replies honestly. It’s not a secret.

Jongin stops laughing, cheeks coloring in embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have joked like that. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head and moves his right knight forward on the board. “Not really. You didn’t know. It’s actually odd that you didn’t already assume that I’m gay. Everyone I hang out with is interested in men in some capacity.”

Jongin shrugs and moves one of his pawns forward to open a path for his bishop to take Kyungsoo’s knight on his next turn. “Isn’t it just as bad to assume that someone’s gay just because they only hang out with queer people?”

Kyungsoo moves his knight forward out of the reach of Jongin’s bishop. “I don’t think so. Why would I want to hang out with straight people? I’ve been friends with the same group of people since I was seven, and that was before any of us even knew that we were queer. I think we instinctively recognize those who are similar to us and we become friends with them. Since being queer is so controversial right now, that bond is strengthened and encouraged for safety.”

Jongin hums and moves his bishop anyway. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”

Kyungsoo takes Jongin’s pawn. “My mom’s a psychologist. She did a study on it shortly after I came out. It was her way of showing she accepted me.”

Jongin moves his queen to capture Kyungsoo’s knight. “That’s really sweet actually. When I told Suho that I was pan, he actually held a party for me to celebrate it.”

Kyungsoo laughs as he moves his pawn to take Jongin’s bishop. “That sounds like Suho alright.”

Jongin looks up, interested. “Oh, you know my brother?” He moves his queen to take Kyungsoo’s rook.

Kyungsoo freezes. He had gotten too lax. Jongin wasn’t supposed to know about his relationship with Suho. He tries to play it off. “He’s the school nurse. Everyone knows him.”

Jongin persists. “But it sounds like you really know him.”

Kyungsoo shrugs to look nonchalant. The movement’s too jerky. “During freshman year, I used to get chronic nosebleeds, a side effect of my allergy medication, so I had to go to the nurse a lot.”

It’s Jongin who laughs this time. “Oh, man! That was you? Suho used to come home muttering under his breath about the nosebleed kid. Apparently you always bled on the sheets and he had no idea how to get it out.”

Kyungsoo moves his second knight forward. “Yeah well, if Suho were better at cleaning, he’d know how to get blood stains out of sheets.”

Jongin laughs again. “Now that sounds like Suho. Our apartment’s a mess because he doesn’t allot any time to cleaning.” He moves his knight.

Kyungsoo relaxes now that the threat is gone and focuses on the game. The next few moves pass in silence. Kyungsoo moves his pawn to free up his bishop. Jongin moves his rook. Kyungsoo moves his bishop. Jongin moves his knight to capture Kyungsoo’s pawn.

While Kyungsoo contemplates his next move, Jongin speaks up. “Hey, Soo. Do you think I’m hot?”

Kyungsoo looks up abruptly, surprised by the non-sequitur of a question. But he responds bluntly, “Well yeah, you’re the most attractive guy in school.” It’d be more suspicious for him to respond negatively to the question.

Distracted by his thoughts on Jongin’s motive for the question, he moves his queen to capture Jongin’s knight.

Jongin, although surprised by Kyungsoo’s honesty, smiles triumphantly and swoops in with his rook to take Kyungsoo’s queen.

“Motherfucker!” Kyungsoo hisses when he realizes what’s happened. Jongin laughs again. This time it’s loud and squawkish.

Kyungsoo runs both of his hands through his hair and leaves them there as he looks at the board. He’s not out of it yet, but to lose his queen… Shit!

Kyungsoo moves his rook.

Jongin stops laughing and moves his pawn forward. “I can’t believe you fell for that!”

Kyungsoo frowns, silently nursing his bruised ego. “That’s playing dirty.” He moves his rook forward to take Jongin’s.

“It’s not against the rules,” Jongin responds cheekily, moving his bishop forward till it’s adjacent with Kyungsoo’s knight.

“It goes against the integrity of the game.” Kyungsoo argues, anger flaring because Jongin’s about to take his last knight, but he can’t move it since that’ll put him in check. He moves his king over one space.

“It’s only the integrity of the game because no one thinks out of the box when playing. I just did something different.” He moves his bishop to take Kyungsoo’s knight.

Kyungsoo’s frown deepens at the conquest. “Have some respect for the rules,” he snaps and moves his rook down to set himself up to capture Jongin’s bishop in the next turn.

“The rules are arbitrary,” Jongin replies. He moves his queen to take Kyungsoo’s last bishop.

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek as he looks down at the board. He can’t believe he let Jongin distract him again. He glares up through his eyelashes at Jongin.

“Oh, would you look at that.” Jongin says innocently, smirk already plastered on his face. “I won.

II.

Jongin’s in a great mood when he gets home Sunday afternoon.  Suho, who's on the couch watching one of the dramas he’s so fond of, notices immediately.

“Someone looks happy. What happened? Did that Sehun kid let you kiss him or something?” Suho laughs to himself over something that’s happened in the drama.

Jongin shrugs as he opens the fridge to grab the orange juice. “Nothing like that. Just had fun with a friend.”

“Oh,” Suho replies blandly, “What’d you and Taemin do?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Not Tae, Kyungsoo.”

Suho perks up, but tries to hide it. “Kyungsoo, huh?” He’s terrible at it.

Jongin doesn’t notice it, though. He’s thinking through his chess game with Kyungsoo, and the look of absolute rage on Kyungsoo’s face when Jongin had tricked him. Jongin stifles a laugh. It was quite cute.

“Yeah, we were just playing chess. It was fun.”

Suho watches the small smile grow on Jongin’s face. “Must’ve been some game.”

Jongin coughs into his hand to get rid of the smile and takes a swig of orange juice out of the cartoon. “Yeah, I guess.”

III.

Monday finds Jongin huddled around Chanyeol’s desk with Sehun. Both of them are extremely stressed and Chanyeol’s not helping.

“Chanyeol, we have to work on the project.” Sehun whines.

Chanyeol keeps his head down, eyes firmly on his notebook, pencil running down the page as he quizzes himself on vocab. “Look, Sehun. I’ve got an English test next period, and we’ve got three weeks to do the project. Clearly, the test has priority.”

“I know, but I’ve got a mock meet this weekend, and I won’t have time to meet up.”

Chanyeol nods along with what Sehun’s saying, but he doesn’t look up. “It’s fine. The project won’t take more than two weeks. Lim just gave us so much time for it because he doesn’t want to teach during class. I’ve already looked over the problems. It’s going to form some kind of polyhedron. It won’t be that tough to make.”

Sehun gives up. “Fine, but we need to meet up outside of class at least twice this week.”

Jongin speaks up for the first time. “Ah, I can’t do that. I have dance practice until 10 every day.”

“10?” Sehun asks incredulously.

“Yeah, Dancehibition’s in a little under two months and I’ve got to perfect all four of my dances before then.” Jongin really wants to complain about Ms. Jang, but it’s not really charming to complain.

Sehun looks down at his problem sheet and hums. “Ah man, that sucks,” he says without conviction.

Jongin shoots him an odd look, but he has to go with it. “Yeah, so all of my free time has to go towards practice. It kind of sucks, but the payoff will be worth it.” Good, good, he made himself seem hardworking.

 “You’ll get it. You were amazing at the Showcase,” Chanyeol says, briefly glancing up before looking back down.

Jongin flushes at the praise. “Ah, thanks. But not as good as Baekhyun was.”

Chanyeol blushes and smiles toothily. He enjoys any and all praise about his boyfriend. “It’s different mediums, so they’re not really comparable. You were both the best.”

Jongin grins. He doesn’t really think that Chanyeol called him the best because he thought Jongin was, but more along the lines that Chanyeol can’t bear to call his boyfriend anything less. Eh, he’ll take it.

“Thanks, man. Uh, can we meet at lunch, maybe?”

Chanyeol nods. “That’s good for me.”

Sehun nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, same here. That’s great. We’ll definitely finish in time now.”

Chanyeol clicks his tongue. “Sehun. We were always going to finish.”

“Yeah,” Sehun agrees with a roll of his eyes, “But now I won’t be stressed. I never do as well at meets when I’m stressed. So it’s good to meet at lunch.”

“Should we meet at the library?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Nah, it’s not good to miss a meal. Let’s sit together at lunch and do a couple a problems a day while we eat. That should be fine.”

“Oh, great!” Jongin responds. People are just literally giving Jongin all the openings he needs for Sehun. Things could not be going better. He might even be finished before May. Suck it, D.O.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I played an entire game of chess with myself for that first scene, so it's technically pretty accurate.
> 
> Thank you for all of your views, and comments, and kudos. I really hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for reading. You're all gems.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part is more of an explanation of Kyungsoo's process of being a floater than actual plot. The second part is plot, so I hope it balances.

I.

Kyungsoo hates parties, but if he wants to remain mostly invisible to the student body, he has to go to them. It’s the only explanation as to why he would be at some kid’s house at 11:30 on a Friday.

“Whose party is this?”

Minseok takes a gulp of his beer before replying. “Junho’s. Tryouts are over and it’s officially baseball season, so we’re celebrating.”

“And we’re holding a party for this?

 “Parties have been held for less than that.”

Kyungsoo hums and takes a sip of his water. He has to talk to at least three different social groups for longer than ten minutes before he can make an Irish exit.

“I’ll give you an hour and then we need to leave. I told my parents I’d be home by one.”

 Kyungsoo shrugs. “I can be done in 30.”

Minseok shakes his head and take a deeper swig of his beer. “No, I want a better buzz before I leave. I’m going to go get some of the harder stuff. Take your time. I’ll meet you on the front porch in a bit.”

Kyungsoo nods in agreement, and makes his way over to the footballers. They’re stockier than the average high school student, so it takes a little longer for the alcohol to settle in.  Kyungsoo needs them to remember him.

Kyungsoo sidles up to Juhan and listens in on their conversation. Conversation might be a bit of a stretch. They’re not plastered, but this is also not a sober conversation. It’s not even a conversation really.

“I just, I just think that is swallowed him, you know? He wanted a good senior debut and he aimed big. But it just was too much for him, you know?”

Kyungsoo does not know and he doesn’t think that the other two members of this group know what Juhan’s talking about. Okay, so maybe they’re more drunk than Kyungsoo bargained for. He can work with this. When in doubt, just agree.

“For sure,” Kyungsoo nods along.

Juhan claps him on the back. “Right? Junhwan couldn’t handle Gypsy Dance, it was too fast and you could see in his step sequence that it was swallowing him. But he did so good, his Olympic performance was so much better. He was the youngest one, you know? I’m so proud. He represented us so well.”

Juhan is practically sobbing now. “He was so great, Kyung! He’s South Korea’s next great skater! I love him!”

Figure skating. Juhan is talking about figure skating. He wouldn’t talk about this if he were remotely sober. There’s no way figure skating is anything but a secret obsession for Juhan.

 Kyungsoo’s done here, but he will be filing away Juhan’s obsession for future use.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys later. Bye Juhan, Shimok, Dongwoo.” Addressing people by name is key for remembrance. Especially if they’re drunk.

“Bye Kyungsoo,” they all bellow out drunkenly. Kyungsoo waves at them till he’s out of sight.

That’s one of his groups for his evening. They’ll all vaguely remember calling out his name in their drunken stupor and that’s all Kyungsoo needs for it to work.

Kyungsoo ambles around for a while trying to find a gossipy group. The footballers were a popular group, if he can get a gossipy group, and then a lower-tier group, he’ll have hit all three of the major distinctions of the school hierarchy. Everyone will know he was there at the party, and his reputation as a floater will continue.

“Gossipy, gossipy, who is gossipy?” Kyungsoo sings under his breath as he walks around.

It’s a rhetorical question. Kyungsoo knows exactly who the gossips are. He’s got to find Yeonsoo and her group. And at a party, there’s only one place to find the gossips: the keg. It’s the high school party equivalent of the office water cooler.

Kyungsoo has to fight his way through a throng of kids to make it there. He finally manages to pop out near Yeonsoo and her friends. He worms his way in between Kyuseok and Eunjung. They both smile and move over to let him in.

Yeonsoo looks over at him and raises her solo cup at him. “Ah, Kyungsoo! Just the person I wanted to see. You know of any D.O. letters in the advanced classes?”

Yeonsoo’s got to be close to plastered if she thinks that Kyungsoo’s got any more information than her. She’s in more advanced classes than he is, and she’s the valedictorian. Publicly, she has more connections than he does, but Kyungsoo’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If someone’s giving him the chance to throw people off his trail, he’ll use it.

He takes a swig of water. “I heard that Mr. Kang got one. Threatened to expose his affair with a student if he didn’t fund more money to the arts section.” He didn’t send this letter, but the arts department did just get an influx of money, so…

Kyuseok tries to whistle but it comes out as a drizzle of spit. Kyungsoo takes a step back. “Wow, he got the head of the school board. How’d he do it? There’s no way this is the work of a student.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “D.O., man.”

It’s enough of an answer for the drunk crowd; they all nod along sagely with Kyungsoo’s statement.

“Who names themselves D.O. anyway? It’s so stupid. What are you? An idol?” Minkyung slurs out. Kyungsoo looks over surprised. He didn’t know that she was now part of the gossips. He’s got to remember that. Aside from the stoners, the gossips are his best resource.

“He didn’t name himself D.O. All of the letters are signed _‘_ sincerely, your Distant Observer’, and that just got shortened to D.O.” Yeonsoo replies turning her solo cup upside down to affirm that she is indeed out of beer.

Kyungsoo’s impressed. Hardly anyone knows why the D.O. letters are called D.O. letters. Yeonsoo’s never even received one, but she must have figured it out somehow. She is the head of the gossips for a reason. Sometimes the way she looks at him makes him think she knows, but he has no proof. And if she does know, she hasn’t exposed him which is really all he can ask for.

“I bet he’s hot,” Eunseo slurs out. “You know the hot, older man type. A real daddy.”

Okay, that’s Kyungsoo’s cue to leave. “I’ll see you guys later. I’m going to go get some of the harder stuff. Bye, Yeonsoo, Eunseo, Minkyung, Kyuseok.”

“Bye! Kyungsoo!” They sing out, and Kyungsoo means sings. They are full-out belting a pop song now. Okay, he’s going.

It’s time to find his last group. He needs a lower-tier group, but not bottom level. There’s probably not even a bottom level group here. Ideally, he’s got to find a mid-level lower-tier and the only group that fits is choir or band.

Choir’s a no-go because none of them are here. There’s a regional choir concert tomorrow, so none of them are here. It’ll have to be a band group.

But Kyungsoo can’t seem to find a single band kid either. He doesn’t know why. To his knowledge, they don’t have anything coming up to stop them from coming here. And he’s pretty sure that the baseball team and band kids aren’t in some kind of fight. They should be here. Unless this party is too cool for them, but that doesn’t make sense. There are nerds in the corner and they’re much lower down. No, there’s something going on here.

He’s going to have to find Junho, which he really doesn’t want to do. Junho’s always been slightly too interested in Kyungsoo to feel comfortable. Anybody who's too interested in him tends to notice him in a crowd and that’s just not what Kyungsoo’s about.

But it’s all for the sake of reputation, so he’ll have to suck it up.

“Junho!” He shouts making sure to slightly slur the end of the name. It’s better if he pretends to be slightly drunk. He’s been sipping on his water for over an hour pretending its vodka.

Junho looks over at him and raises both arms, sloshing his beer out of the cup. “Kyungsoo! Wassup!”

Ah shit, he’s plastered. This might not go as well as Kyungsoo needs it to. Junho’s got the memory of a goldfish when he’s drunk and he’s a little more pervy, like all sexually frustrated teenage boys.

Kyungsoo is engulfed in a bear hug by the huge baseball captain. He gingerly returns it and only steps out of it when he feels Junho’s hand slipping down his back.

“Hey buddy! How are you enjoying the party?”

“I love it!” He hates it. Kyungsoo hates parties. He’s the epitome of an introvert. Shit, man, he’s not even drinking alcohol right now.

“Good, good, I’m glad. I haven’t seen you at one of these in a while.” Junho’s shouting so loudly right now. Kyungsoo holds back a wince.

 _Only Junho would notice that_ , Kyungsoo thinks regretfully. It’s true though. He hasn’t been at one since the beginning of the semester. He was too busy avoiding Jongin. The only reason he came tonight is because he knows Jongin’s too busy practicing.

“Yeah, been doin’ school and extracurriculars to beef up my college applications.”

“Nice, nice. Drink?” Junho shoves his solo cup under Kyungsoo’s nose.

Kyungsoo stumbles backwards and swats the cup away. He has to wrap this up.

“Band kids. Where are they?” Junho’s plastered. He’s not going to remember Kyungsoo being curt with him.

Junho blinks blearily. “Uh, I broke up with Sunmi a couple of days ago and all the band kids are not coming because of that.”

Kyungsoo struggles to keep his face neutral even though he can feel his eyes wanting to widen. This is news. Sunmi and Junho were another power couple without any of the notoriety of Jongin. The fact that they broke up is surprising. Kyungsoo’s got to remember that. Sunmi’s the drum major and effectively controls the band, the most tight-knit group in school. Kyungsoo might need that type of manpower in the future.

Junho’s shoulders slump forward. “Yeah, man. It really sucks,” he looks up hopefully at Kyungsoo and wiggles his eyebrows. “But I’m single and ready to mingle.”

Junho’s 180 flip gives Kyungsoo whiplash. “Wow. I have to make curfew. I will see you later.”

Kyungsoo hightails it out of there before Junho tries something more handsy. There’s no mid-level lower-tier group for him to talk to. He’s done all he can here.

He worms his way through the crowd and squeezes out the front door, right next to Minseok.

Minseok looks over at Kyungsoo frazzled state before chugging the rest of his beer. He throws it in the direction of the front door. “Let’s go.”

II.

Jongin’s super tired. He was up until three with Taemin going over their duet for Dancehibition and then he had to get up at 6 to make it to this mock swim meet. Only to find out that Sehun’s events are in the fucking afternoon. So he only had two and a half hours of sleep and he’s been in a high school that perpetually smells of chlorine for six hours now. Precious sleep and practice time were wasted today. And he’s still got an hour until Sehun swims. This is the worst.

He’d text Taemin, but Taemin’s probably practicing and would just tell him to leave the event. He doesn’t really understand the full significance of what Jongin’s trying to achieve here. And he can’t text any of his other friends because none of the others know why Jongin would be hanging out with Sehun. It’s not yet public information that Jongin’s pursuing him.

That really only leaves one person.

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Hey Soo, do you remember that time I beat your ass at chess?**

There is a more than likely chance that Kyungsoo will ignore his text message, but there is a small chance that Kyungsoo will answer it, and he’s banking on it. Especially since he’s technically still blackmailing Kyungsoo.

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**You can only milk that for so long.**

Jongin grins.

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**But you agree that I can milk it! :D**

There’s no reply from Kyungsoo for 20 minutes. Jongin feels smug about the silence and goes to get nachos from the concession stand in celebration. He feels his phone vibrate.

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**What do you want?**

Jongin pouts. Leave it to Kyungsoo to try and take away his fun. Jongin’s skill though is milking things and he still has 30 minutes until Sehun swims, so it’s time to start milking.

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**I just like talking to you, Soo! ;D**

Jongin can already see Kyungsoo’s eye twitching.

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**I’m busy, Jongin.**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**But I’m your best friend, Soo! Don’t you want to talk to your best friend?**

Jongin hears a ding as they update the flat screen in the lobby. He looks up at the results, and has no idea what they mean. But their school is close to the top, so that’s probably good.

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**I am. Minseok’s right next to me.**

Jongin should have expected that one to go south.

 

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Clearly I was talking about me**

**I’m your best friend.**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**You’re not Minseok.**

Okay, he’s got change the subject. He’s losing control here.

 

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**What are you doing, Soo?**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Texting you.**

Ah, it makes sense now why Kyungsoo is always annoyed with him when they hang out. It’s not that fun being on this end of their exchanges.

 

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Where are you, Soo?**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Regional Choir Concert. Baekhyun’s performing**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**But what about Sehun?**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**We’re not friends. I just tutor him.**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**He thinks so highly of you**

5 minutes of radio silence.

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Do you really want me there when you’re trying to woo him?**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Who says I’m trying to woo him?**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**You’ve spent a lot of time asking for help on Sehun.**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Maybe I just want to be besties, Soo! ;D**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Interesting use of the winking emoticon…**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**It’s all for you**

**From: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**Blocked.**

**To: Kyungsoo (Squishy)**

**No! Soo!**

Kyungsoo doesn’t reply and while Jongin’s tempted to think it’s because he got annoyed with the conversation, it’s more likely that the concert started. It’s good timing. He’s got ten minutes till Sehun’s event. He should probably go to the pool.

 

The overwhelming scent of chlorine makes him sneeze when walks in. Ugh, he hates chlorine. They’re three hours away from the beach. Why swim in a pool when the sea’s right there?

 

Jongin takes a seat a little higher up for a better vantage point and to try and get away from the chlorine. It’s so strong even up in the stands.

 

It’s only a few minutes until the swimmers come in. When Jongin sees Sehun, he makes sure to whoop really loudly. It works well. Sehun looks up startled and makes eye contact with Jongin.

 

The blush Jongin receives is the best gift he’s ever gotten.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading as always! I hope you like it.
> 
> Also you should really check out Junhwan Cha's Olympic performance. It is really much better than the beginning of the season. Gypsy Dance is from the Don Quixote ballet. You can see a different skate to the same music by Wakaba Higuchi. It's really good as well.


	10. Chapter 10

I.

Jongin’s been cooped up in his room for over two hours now. He’s not practicing today. His back is sore, and he knows better than to try and push through it. If he does, he’ll be in extreme pain for the rest of the week.

He’s in front of his laptop, screen open to a blank calendar. He’s trying to create a timeline for his character. He’s had one in his head and he’s been acting by it, but he needs it out in front if him, and he needs to know that he thought it out completely. He thought D.O. wasn’t involved yet, but when he went into Ms. Jang’s office to ask about getting the key to the practice room, he found the D.O. letter gently laid in an open side drawer. He had wanted to laugh when he saw it because he had done same thing. His own D.O. letters were safely tucked in the box along with the rest of the miscellaneous items of his project. He imagined that the rest of D.O.’s victims also kept their’s closely guarded.

But overall, he had been alarmed. He had been too lax when, clearly, D.O. was there from the beginning. Clearly, he already knew about Sehun, and, clearly, he had used the letter to minimize Jongin’s time with Sehun. Jongin had thought he would be able to throw off D.O. by going after a guy. While they are in one of the more progressive school districts, most male-male interaction is still classified as a friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Jongin’s underestimated D.O. If D.O. knows about Sehun, then it’s best to assume he knows everything.

Jongin’s three steps behind when he needs to be ahead.

So this timeline is really important here. Jongin’s two weeks out from Spring Break, and originally he had hoped to be going on semi-regular dates with Sehun if not outright dating. He’s not going to get there. Their daily lunch/project dates have Chanyeol and Sehun's too worried about the project to do anything but the project during lunch. So they don't really count.

So they've technically only been on one date and Jongin can’t push another one right now, not with Sehun freaked out about the calculus project and the Midterm right after. He’ll have to wait till after the project’s over, and by then it’ll be crunch time for Dancehibition.

Ideally, he'll win Sehun over by the Spring Party after Spring Break. That gives them seven weeks of in-school dating, but they'll have to date during the summer.  While Jongin enjoys the backdrop of the high school social setting, it’s not necessary. And there’s a good chance D.O. won’t follow him outside of high school, so this might actually be the true ideal.

Of course, there’s always the possibility Sehun won’t want to date anyone when he’s leaving for college in a few months. But there’s also a chance Sehun’s not going more than an hour away for college. 9 out of 10 seniors don’t leave the city for college.

Jongin tentatively highlights the weekend of the Spring Party. That gives him a couple of weeks to win over Sehun and then seven weeks to date for nine weeks overall. Eight if you don’t count Spring Break and Jongin can’t because Sehun’s going on a trip with his older brother.  Six weeks if you include the two-weeks before Dancehibition, which Jongin has to because there are mandatory practices until late at night. Four weeks if you count midterms which is necessary because both of them need good grades for college.

Four weeks then. It is crunch time.

He’ll have to take advantage of project time with Sehun. It’s annoying that Chanyeol’s there, but he can work with it. Sehun’s got a couple of more mock swim meets he can go to. Going to those are really effective especially since both of Sehun’s parents are realtors and work mostly on weekends, and Sehun’s older brother is away at college. Jongin’s the only one going to those.

The only other thing that takes a huge chunk of Sehun’s time is his tutoring with Kyungsoo, and Jongin knows that’s a no-go. Sehun’s too serious about school to let Jongin interfere with his tutoring. It’s unfortunate for a couple of reasons, the first being Jongin needs as much contact with Sehun as possible, and the second being Jongin loves annoying Kyungsoo.

Unfortunately, Jongin’s current timeline doesn’t allow for much else, so he can’t hang out with Kyungsoo anymore, which is much more disappointing than he would have originally thought.

But there’s nothing else he can do. His entire schedule is packed, and Sehun and Dancehibition are his priorities.

II.

Kyungsoo’s sitting with Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the bleachers watching Minseok’s soccer practice. The first game of the season is this Saturday. For the past week, Minseok’s been going to morning and afternoon practices, and as a result, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol have spent the first week of March on the bleachers, bathing in the weak sunlight.

“By the way, thanks for the dildos.”

It’s Baekhyun talking, but it’s Chanyeol who got the box. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to know.

He grunts.

“My favorite was the purple one. It’s inflatable, but you know that. It stretches well. What’s your favorite, Yeol?”

Chanyeol hums as he thinks it over, and Kyungsoo can’t believe he’s thinking it over.

“I’m actually a fan of the yellow tentacle. It’s unlike any of the others, and I like how it tapers.”

“I needed to know none of that.”

“Don’t you want to know how we enjoyed your product?” Baekhyun asks.

“It’s not my product. I ordered them online and shipped them to Chanyeol. I never even touched them.”

“But you did pick all of them out,” Chanyeol adds. Baekhyun smirks triumphantly.

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo chides. Chanyeol shrugs. It’s Kyungsoo’s fault that he thought Chanyeol wouldn’t side with Baekhyun.

“You should be proud of your sex toys selection skills.  All of them are good. Those are just our favorites. Put it on your resume.”

“No,” Kyungsoo replies instantly. “When you said I couldn’t ask questions, I thought that meant you wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Baekhyun started it.”

Kyungsoo grumbles petulantly under his breath.

“Hey!” Baekhyun says suddenly,  “I’ve got the best idea. We should get Sehun to invite Jongin to the game on Saturday and sit with us.”

Kyungsoo scowls. “No. It’s supposed to be a happy place. Jongin doesn’t make a happy place.”

“Jongin could make a happy place, if you know what I mean.”

“Stop that.”

“I think it’s a good idea.”

“Chanyeol.”

“Come on, Kyung, hear me out. We’re two weeks out till Spring Break. It’s the halfway point of everything this semester including the project. He’s a little behind. At the very least, he needs to be able to make plans to hang out with Sehun. This is giving him some of the help he needs. Even you have to admit that.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo huffs out. “It’s really annoying that we have to orchestrate something like that. He used to do everything without our interference. I didn’t expect having Sehun on our side would put us so closely to Jongin.”

“It’s more like an experiment now though. Sehun’s your control. It’s honestly the best way to really observe his characters. This character should produce the most data for you. So it’s really for the project. Besides your own personal interactions with Jongin can only add to the data. You might be able to make a whole profile this time.”

Kyungsoo drags his teeth across his bottom lip and then his top lip. “There’s a problem with that though. Jongin doesn’t keep up the Prince Charming persona with me. He takes on another one. He acts more familiar and pushy like Baekhyun, but when we were playing chess he became more smug and blatantly clever. It’s a lot of contraries.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun both just stare at him. Baekhyun speaks first, “You think it’s another persona?”

Kyungsoo nods, too caught up in his own thoughts to see the glance exchanged between the pair. “Yeah, just talking to Taemin briefly, Taemin paints Jongin as more more focused and laid-back.”

“You said contraries, but not contradictions. The character qualities of being laid-back, familiar and focused don’t exclude each other.”

Kyungsoo knows what Chanyeol’s getting at; it’s a dangerous and unnecessary road of thought to follow. But he silently acknowledges what Chanyeol’s aiming at: Jongin is most likely being himself when they’re together. Like he told Sehun, it’s better to admit it. It only causes trouble to deny it.

“Fine, I’ll tell Sehun to invite him.”

“Good,” Baekhyun claps. “It’s going to be fun sitting next to him knowing that you’re going to royally fuck him over.”

Kyungsoo turns to Chanyeol and points at Baekhyun. “This is your boyfriend.”

Chanyeol looks fondly at Baekhyun and rubs his knee. “Yeah.”

III.

The cold metal is seeping through Kyungsoo pants. He’s miserable. It’s 10am on a Saturday morning, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol are sitting on his left leaving his right side open. Well not open, Kyungsoo knows exactly who’s going to sit there. He hopes it Sehun, but a true Prince Charming character would take the inner seat to allow the other easier access to the aisle. Kyungsoo’s trapped.

“One of you should switch with me.” Kyungsoo tries one more time.

Baekhyun snuggles in closer to Chanyeol. “It’s cold and you’re trying to deprive me of cuddling with my boyfriend. You monster.”

Kyungsoo turns back to face front. “Drama queen,” he mumbles.

Chanyeol reaches behind Baekhyun and swats the back of Kyungsoo’s head. “Be nice. We’re here to help you.”

Baekhyun sticks out his tongue. Kyungsoo lightly slaps his cheek and blocks another swat from Chanyeol. “This was your idea in the first place. You know where he’s going to sit. It’s a worst-case scenario.”

“Now who’s the drama queen?”

“Still you, Baek.”

Baekhyun turn an affronted glare in Chanyeol. “Chanyeol!”

“And I love it.”

Kyungsoo fake gags. “You both make me sick.”

Baekhyun lands a loud sloppy kiss on Chanyeol’s cheek. “There is no greater pleasure than kissing your lover. Why I even imagine it’s better than loving my mother.”

“That’s not a real rhyme.”

Baekhyun shoulder Kyungsoo. “It’s a slant rhyme.”

“That’s not a slant rhyme, idiot!”

Baekhyun kicks at Kyungsoo’s leg. “I’ll show you a slant rhyme—“

Kyungsoo goes in to elbow Baekhyun, but Chanyeol cuts them both off. “Hey, Sehun! Hey, Jongin!”

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun immediately separate, and smile up at the newcomers.

“Hey!”

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late.” Sehun goes in to sit next to Kyungsoo, but Jongin stops him with a gentle hand to Sehun’s elbow. He slides in before Sehun, sits his bag down on the floor and then greets everyone. “It’s nice to see you all again.” He’s got that fake, genteel smile plastered on his face.

Chanyeol Baekhyun and Kyungsoo all inwardly cringe at the formality. It’s too much, but they all return the smile.

“It’s nice to see you again too. Please take a seat.” Baekhyun’s following Jongin’s example and laying it on thick.

Jongin sits next to Kyungsoo, and Sehun next to Jongin. Sehun gives Kyungsoo a knowing smile. Oh wow, Kyungsoo forgot he was like this.

Kyungsoo shares a look with Chanyeol who also caught Sehun’s smile. He gives Kyungsoo a sympathetic headshake. It’d be too suspicious to switch places now.

“Thanks for inviting us.”

Kyungsoo smiles widely at Sehun. It’s great word choice. Sehun’s subtly enforcing the idea that he and Jongin are a thing. Kyungsoo feels like a proud parent. He can forgive the smile.

“No problem. Glad you could come. Kick-off’s in a couple of minutes.”

“Are we rooting for anyone in particular or just the team as a whole?” Jongin asks. Kyungsoo takes a minute to note his posture. His knees are pressed together and his spine is ramrod straight. It almost makes him seem nervous or uncomfortable, maybe even uptight, but Jongin counteracts all that by having his shoulders relaxed. It changes everything about him. He looks polite, well-raised and extremely comfortable. A true Prince Charming.

Kyungsoo mentally whistles. It’s so impressive.

“We’re here for Minseok and Daehyun. Minseok’s the defensive midfielder, number 99, and Daehyun’s the goalie.”

Jongin nods along, and that’s when it hits Kyungsoo. Jongin can’t be anything but Prince Charming right now since Sehun’s here. This is the best possible situation that could’ve happened.

He rubs his hand over his mouth to get rid of his smile. It’s a great fucking day.

“Oh! that reminds me. I brought hot chocolate.” Jongin reaches into his bag and pulls out a thermos and a small tower of Styrofoam cups.

They all watch flabbergasted as he fills up each cup and passes it down the line. They dumbly follow his example. When everyone has a steaming cup of hot chocolate, Jongin smiles sunnily at them, “I always drink hot chocolate when it’s cold in the morning, so I made enough for all of us. Please enjoy.”

Baekhyun nudges Kyungsoo slightly and tilts his head to get Kyungsoo to bend his head down. In his ear, Baekhyun whispers, “This is fucking amazing. I want to date him.”

Kyungsoo spares Jongin a quick glance to where he’s asking Sehun more about the soccer team before looking over to Chanyeol. Chanyeol points at his hot chocolate and mouths “wow”.  Chanyeol and Baekhyun are in the same boat then.

 Even Kyungsoo’s surprised by this level of charm. He had expected Jongin to be mostly attentive to Sehun, and then the bare minimum to those around Sehun, but this is more than that. Jongin’s being attentive to all of them, and to Sehun, who cares greatly for his friends, it’s the right move.

Kyungsoo looks over at Sehun. He’s red in the face, mostly likely a combination of the chill and Jongin’s attentiveness, and he looks completely enthralled by whatever Jongin’s saying. Sehun might have more reason to worry about falling for Jongin than he thought.

Kyungsoo take a sip of his hot chocolate. Baekhyun’s right. It’s fucking amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For now, I don't think I'll have a chapter up next week. I have to pack up my room and drive home for the summer. At the very least, I will for sure have a chapter up week after next.
> 
> Also you guys are the cutest. Thank you for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

I.

Monday finds Kyungsoo sitting on the bleachers watching Minseok’s soccer practice again. They won on Saturday, but that only fuels the coach to work them harder.

Baekhyun’s at his vocal lessons; college auditions are coming up. Chanyeol’s at piano lessons; in his opinion, every good producer should know how to play the piano. So it’s just Kyungsoo sitting alone, which is what he prefers.

He’s got a problem with Jongin. He’s known for a bit that Jongin considers him a friend, but seeing him up close with Sehun has only highlighted a problem.

Kyungsoo’s watched Jongin for three years and four characters, and this is the first time he’s seen Jongin have a personality outside of a character. Jongin even subs out the more extreme parts of his personality for his character’s when he's with his friends. There’s no reason for Jongin to act differently with him.

As Kyungsoo sees it, there are two reasons as to why Jongin’s doing this. The first is that he doesn’t realize that he’s acting differently. The second is that he’s doing it purposefully because he’s playing a second game with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo highly doubts that Jongin has a second game. He’s too busy for that. That leaves the first option, which is the most troublesome of the two.

Kyungsoo has a lot of problems with subconscious choices. First and foremost being, they’re not connected with the person in question.

There are three people in a person: the person they think they are, the person other people think they are, and the person they really are. They overlap and clash at times, but they each have parts of themselves that can’t be breached by the other two. Subconscious actions fall firmly in the third person, far out of reach of the other two, far out of reach from Kyungsoo.

The question becomes how does Kyungsoo deal with that. Ideally, Jongin will leave him alone for the rest of eternity since he’s so busy, but that won’t happen. If there’s one thing Kyungsoo’s learned by now, it’s that if Jongin wants something to happen he’ll make it happen. So that’s a no go.

Kyungsoo could subtly mention it when they hang out next, but that would mean he’s relying on his acting skills, and he doesn’t have any acting skills.

His only viable option then is to continue on and just let it play out as usual. The problem with that is that Jongin will continue to be oblivious to his own actions and those friendly feelings will continue to develop. Kyungsoo’s not vain enough to think that Jongin will develop any sort of romantic inclination for him. It’s just that those friendly feelings will continue to get stronger until Jongin actually considers Kyungsoo a close friend. And Kyungsoo isn't really in a position where he can be close friends with Jongin.

Kyungsoo’s got to think of the end game, and the end game’s going to show that Jongin’s destroyed.

Friends don’t destroy friends. So Kyungsoo has to end this before he feels guilty for betraying Jongin. He can’t ruin his objectivity.

This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if Kyungsoo wasn’t starting to feel somewhat friendly himself. It isn’t a lot, but Kyungsoo kind of appreciates Jongin’s brash attitude. Kyungsoo almost finds him likeable, and that’s why he really needs to get out.

The first idea is to try and get Sehun to speed up, but he immediately rejects the idea. He can’t interfere with the pace of the project. He wants to examine Jongin in his natural setting at his own pace. Kyungsoo’s already interfered too much by telling Sehun to put on the brakes. He can’t interfere directly anymore.

The second is to drop the project completely. It makes the most sense. To be perfectly honest, this project’s data is already corrupted since he’s interacting with Jongin. The data already shows too much bias on his part. One of his last data entries had referred to Jongin by name instead of its usual variable K. But Kyungsoo’s completely unwilling to do that. This is the result of four years work, and he can’t throw it down the drain.

Kyungsoo leans back until his back hits the bleacher and sighs. Well, that’s it then, isn’t it? He can’t do anything but let this path plays to its own destruction.

II.

Lunch is stressful because not only is Jongin trying to eat, he’s trying to shove Styrofoam joints into each other and all it’s doing is making an awful squeaking sound and not setting properly. Why did they wait this long to make the dodecahedron?

“Come on, Jongin, this is one of Euclid’s regular polyhedrons! That means it’s easy to make!” Chanyeol’s yelling as he rewrites the equations on a clean sheet of paper.

Jongin can’t yell. He wants to so badly, but Prince Charming wouldn’t yell. If he could he would probably shout something about how Euclid didn’t have to deal with the devil’s material!

Luckily Sehun’s there to yell for him. “Why the fuck do you know any of this, Chanyeol! You want to be a fucking producer!”

Okay, well that’s not actually helpful yelling, but Jongin will give it to him. This project’s due next period.

“The ratios that make up chords are called Pythagorean Intervals which are based off of Euclidean Geometry. It’s basic Music Theory, you idiot!” Chanyeol’s so angry he snaps his pencil point against the paper and angrily clicks the eraser until more lead comes out. It is the single most annoying thing Jongin has ever heard in in his life.

But he has to be calm. He looks over at Sehun, who is also angrily trying to shove a Styrofoam joint into another socket. It’s going about as well as it was for Jongin.

“Hey Sehun, let me hold that piece and then you can have a better look at where the joint’s supposed to go.”

Sehun looks at his two pieces before nodding and handing over one. Jongin holds it still while Sehun carefully approaches the other piece, an intense look of concentration on his face. There’s a little resistance when Sehun initially tries to connect them, but with a horrendous screech they finally pop into place.

Jongin holds up his hand for a high-five, “Teamwork! Yeah!”

Sehun returns it with a goofy grin. “Yeah! Teamwork!”

“Yeah, yeah, teamwork’s great. Finish the fucking dodecahedron. Class is in twenty minutes.”

Sehun and Jongin, as quickly as possible, begin connecting joints to sockets. It’s much quicker work than before, and they finish just as the bell rings to signal the end of lunch.

Chanyeol leans back with a groan and shakes his hand. “Shit, man, we barely finished. Ugh, my hand’s cramping so much.”

Sehun gets up, gingerly holding the dodecahedron. “Well, it’s not over yet. Jongin, can you take my tray? We still need to get to class. I’ll go first so I can get this to class safely. I’ll see you there.”

“It’s pretty sturdy.” Jongin replies reluctantly as he wracks his brain to try and figure out a way to get Sehun to wait for him. There are 7 minutes between periods, which is golden time to try and flirt with Sehun.

Sehun shrugs. “I’ve never been in the hall without being knocked into at least once. I just want to be careful. This is worth the same as an exam, you know?”

Jongin nods. He gets it. He needs this grade too. It was a really shitty thing to get Suho to transfer him into Calculus. Yes, he’s getting time to spend with Sehun, but his grade is suffering and dance scholarship or no, colleges are going to look at his grades.

Sehun smiles at him before turning around and heading to their classroom. Chanyeol and Jongin both watch him go.

“You should've pushed harder. I bet he would have let you go with him if you had.”

Jongin whirls around to face Chanyeol. “What?”

Chanyeol gives him a weird look. “Sehun. He would have let you go with him if you pushed a little harder.”

Jongin shrugs and laughs nervously. “It’s not nice to push if someone doesn’t want something.”

“It isn’t very charming, is it?” Chanyeol asks under his breath.

Jongin’s head snaps up. “What?”

“What?” Chanyeol parrots back.

“What did you say?”

“I said if you want to date Sehun, you’re going to have to try harder.”

Jongin thinks Chanyeol’s lying to him because that second answer has way too many words as compared to the first, but it’s not like he can call him out on it anyway.

“I don’t want to date Sehun.” It’s almost instinct at this point to deny it. Jongin has a rule about not admitting to going after someone until they’re essentially dating. He and Sehun aren’t at that point yet.

“Could’ve fooled me. You and Sehun never hung out and then now you’re always together when I see you.”

Jongin works to keep his face neutral. He knows Chanyeol’s right. Everything about it is suspicious, but Jongin does it because he’s convinced that very few people will notice. He picked Sehun with care. Sehun’s high enough in the school hierarchy that it won’t matter whether or not Jongin hangs out with him. And so far he’s been right. Hardly anyone has raised an eyebrow when they see Jongin and Sehun together.

It’s odd that Chanyeol’s noticed it.

Based on what Kyungsoo’s said and what he’s seen, Jongin has no reason to believe that Chanyeol and Sehun were friends before the project. Really, Jongin could say the same thing about Chanyeol and Sehun. Chanyeol and Sehun almost never hung out and now they’re hanging out a lot as well.

They way Jongin sees it, there are two options here.  The first is that Chanyeol’s secretly in love with Sehun. Any type of romantic inclination is going to result in heightened awareness of said person, but that doesn’t fit for Chanyeol. He’s head-over-heels in love with Baekhyun. Jongin doesn’t think he’s ever had a conversation with him where he didn’t somehow mention Baekhyun. It doesn’t make sense then that Chanyeol would be in love with Sehun.

That leaves the second option, which is the more intriguing of the two.

Chanyeol, in some form or fashion, is either D.O. or connected enough to D.O. to know that Jongin’s pursuing Sehun.

Jongin looks back up at Chanyeol, slight smirk on his face. “Ah, you know. I’m just being friendly.”

Chanyeol looks unimpressed.  He packs up his bag and hands the equation sheet over to Jongin. “Why don’t you take this and follow after Sehun so you can be more friendly? I’ll take our trays.”

III.

Jongin’s waiting outside the locker rooms for Sehun. It’s Thursday. The only day that Jongin has off from dancing. It’s a precautionary measure more than a voluntary one. He doesn’t want to overwork his body. His portfolio’s almost done and Ms. Jang’s already invited the scouts to Dancehibition. It’d be just his luck to sprain his waist again. So his rest day Thursday has become a mandatory thing as well as his unofficial Sehun date day.

Well, it’s what he hopes anyway. Today’s his first day trying it out. He can’t rely on strokes of luck like Saturday’s soccer game. He’s got a week and a day left until Spring Break when Sehun’s out of town. If he can do every Thursday before and after Spring Break he’s got a pretty solid shot to at least beginning to date Sehun before summer’s out.

And now he feels the pressure. D.O. (a.k.a maybe Chanyeol) is closer to him than he originally thought. He might even be more involved that Jongin thinks. He could have Sehun on his side!

Jongin shakes his head. No, he can’t get overthink it like that. If he overthinks it, D.O. won’t even need to do anything, Jongin will crash and burn on his own. Besides he’s already thought about it. D.O. probably didn’t tell more people than necessary and is most likely just watching from a closer distance than usual. That’s all it is.

The important thing is to go ahead as usual with Sehun so D.O. won’t suspect that Jongin's onto him. It’s best to just continue on as normal.

Jongin looks to his right at the sound of talking. It looks like the swim team’s finished up for the day.

The smell of chlorine reaches him just before the team comes into view. The all file out in a single indistinct pack, a few of them calling out hellos towards Jongin. Jongin’s never made an effort to learn the names of any of the guys on the swim team, but he nods back at them all the same.

Sehun’s the last one to come out. He’s got a slightly damp towel slung over his shoulders and he’s using one end to clean water out of his ear.

“Sehun!”

Sehun looks over at him and smiles brightly. “Jongin, what are you doing here?”

Jongin shrugs and smiles bashfully. “I was waiting for you. I just got of out rehearsal with Taemin and I thought I would see if you were still here.”

Sehun nods and gestures to the exit. “That’s really nice of you. Do you want to head out? You mentioned once that you live in the same direction as me. We can walk together.”

 Sehun, for lack of a better word, has been giving Jongin a lot of openings lately and a small part of Jongin’s brain whispers that this is D.O.’s doing. But the more logical part says that he and Sehun have been hanging out for about four weeks and Sehun most likely considers him a friend. Of course, Jongin considers walking someone home the action of a romantic interest, but who knows. Maybe Sehun commonly walks home with friends.

Jongin walks up to Sehun’s side and matches his pace. The scent of chlorine is overwhelming and Jongin stifles the urge to sneeze. It’s only now that he realizes that Sehun probably didn’t shower and came directly from the pool, which makes sense since Sehun’s going directly home.

“How are your routines coming?” Sehun asks.

“They’re going well. I have two groups, a duet, and then a solo. I was working on the duet with Taemin today. It’s a modern piece and we’re trying to work the choreography so that it’s not too emotionally and structurally tethered to the music, but not so far off that it comes off completely detached. So that’s what we were working on today. What about you?”

“Hmm, it was mostly working on the freestyle relay. It’s not a strong point for any of the team, but that’s to be expected. We’re a new club this year. Most of us just started this year as well.”

That’s news to Jongin. He didn’t think that swim club was so young. Sure he’s never heard of it before this year, but he attributed that to his lack of interest. Wow, so this is fresh territory then.

“Wow, I didn’t know that. What made you join then?”

Sehun hums as he thinks. “When I was 7, my parents took me to the aquarium, and I kind of instantly fell in love with all the sea life, but my favorite was the sea turtle. I liked how they’re essentially dinosaurs and they're slow, lazy style of swimming. So my parents put me in swimming lessons as a form of exercise and bonding and then I just kind of swam for fun until the club started up. I decided that I probably needed the exercise and it’s an excuse to swim, so why not?

Jongin might not relate to the need to swim, but he’s seen Sehun’s body and he can confirm that swimming has been very kind to Sehun.

Jongin pushes open the door and the step outside into the wind causes both of them to stop and try to catch their breath. It’s too cold this late into winter. Spring is right around the corner. Jongin shouldn’t be feeling like his teeth are about to break because they’re chattering so much.

“Ugh, I forgot to bring a coat because my brother dropped me off this morning. At least it’s only a ten-minute walk. What about you?”

Jongin lied when he said he lived in the same direction as Sehun; he lives in the opposite direction, but Sehun wouldn’t have let Jongin walk him home if he actually knew. It is very kind of Sehun to not want Jongin to suffer, but Jongin’s trying to do something here. Niceties aren’t helpful. After they start dating, Jongin can do the big reveal and pass it off as “I just wanted more time with you”. It’s worked on 4 out of 4 people.

“It’s about five more minutes after that. I live in the adjacent neighborhood.”

“Oh good, this is terrible weather.”

They walk in silence for a couple blocks. Jongin doesn’t know how to start a conversation right now, not when they’re both focused on avoiding getting gusts of wind blown into their mouths. But maybe there’s more comfort in silence as they walk home. It’s definitely a sign of familiarity to be able to be together in silence. Jongin’s pretty positive they’re not at that point, but to instigate it slowly might be a step in the right direction. So Jongin lets the silence sit.

The ten minutes pass excruciatingly slow mostly because it’s so fucking cold rather than any awkwardness on their part.

Sehun’s house is a stock home that looks no different from every other two-story, blue-shuttered house on the block aside from a small garden of herbs under the living room window. Jongin walks Sehun up to the stoop of his house.  Sehun unlock his front door before turning to Jongin.

He smiles. “Thanks for walking me home. I’ll see you tomorrow in class, yeah?”

Jongin smiles back, making sure to show more teeth to display his excitement. “Yeah! I’ll see you then. Have a nice night, Sehun.”

“You too, Jongin.”

They both share one last goodbye before Jongin’s walking down the stairs and back to the sidewalk. Jongin’s almost outside of the gate, when Sehun calls out again. Jongin looks back to him.

Sehun nervously scratches the side of his head. “Uhh, text me when you get home so I know you’re safe, okay?”

The smile Jongin gives him is genuine. “Yeah, for sure. Good night!”

“Goodnight!”

Jongin walks in the same direction until he’s sure Sehun’s gone inside before he turns around and begins the walk home.

It’s been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Thanks for waiting! I finally finished all my papers.
> 
> As always thanks for reading, commenting, kudo-ing, and putting up with my need to be clever
> 
> We are roughly 1/3 of a way through the story!


	12. Chapter 12

I.

On Tuesday morning, Jongin waits in front of Kyungsoo’s locker. He thought about his Chanyeol/D.O theory over the weekend and he wants to test it out. And who better to test it out on than his dear friend Kyungsoo? Sure it’s a blatant disregard of Kyungsoo’s one wish to not interact with him at school by waiting in front of his locker in front of the whole school. But who cares? No one’s really going to think of it. Kyungsoo’s not so low on the totem pole, he thinks. He’s actually a little unsure, but it’s not that important. The school hierarchy is completely subjective and isn’t even going to be a thing in three months.

An incoming text disrupts his thought process.

**From: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**Move the fuck away from my locker**

Jongin looks around wildly trying to find where Kyungsoo is, but he can’t see him from where he is.

  **To: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**Where are you?**

 

An instant reply.

 

**From: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**Move the FUCK away from my locker**

 

**To: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**But Soo, I want to talk to my best friend!**

 

**From: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**Taemin’s in the dance studio**

 

Jongin walked into that one.

 

**To: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**I was talking about you.**

**I want to talk to you.**

**From: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**Not in front of my locker.**

**We have a deal Jongin.**

**No school interactions.**

**To: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**I think it’s time we let the world know.**

**From: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**No.**

**Move the fuck away from my locker.**

**To: Kyungsoo (The Squishiest)**

**You know Soo ;P, (I’m going to add this emoji every time now) I can just**

**use this time to say to everyone who walks by “This is my best friend,**

**Kyungsoo’s** **locker. Do you know Kyungsoo? Do you know that he’s my best**

**friend?”**

Kyungsoo’s really pushing it by not replying for ten minutes. Jongin’s already committed to telling the next person that walks by.

 

**From: Soo ;P (The Squishiest)**

**Meet me in the D-Hall Utility Closet.**

Wow, Kyungsoo’s really taking this whole clandestine friendship seriously. A utility closet really? The #1 place in school to go for a quick make-out session? When there are so many empty classrooms this early in the morning? Jongin laughs to himself. There’s no way he’s going to let Kyungsoo live this down.

D-Hall’s really far though especially since Jongin’s in A-Hall and it takes him awhile to get there. If Kyungsoo was looking for a place to meet, Jongin can see why it took him so long to reply.

When he opens the door and steps inside, he sees why Kyungsoo chose it. It’s the biggest utility closet in school and the most underused apparently. Aside from a spare mop bucket and metal shelf that holds only one bottle of bleach, it’s completely empty.

Kyungsoo’s leaned against the adjacent wall opposite the shelf doing something on his phone. He doesn’t immediately look up when Jongin enters but when he does, he does not look happy. He actually looks like he couldn’t possibly be more annoyed than he is right now. And it’s all because of Jongin.

Jongin relishes that look.

“What’s so important that you need to stand in front of my locker?”

Jongin shrugs and kicks his toe into the ground. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t believe his bashful act for a second. “Yeah, I also blackmail my friends at 8 in the morning so we can ‘just talk’. Jongin, c’mon tell me what’s up.”

Jongin makes sure to sigh dramatically. “All right, you caught me.” He watches Kyungsoo’s eye twitch. Perfect, it’s what he was going for.

“I need some more help with Sehun.”

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to sigh. “Look man, I’ve told you a million times. Sehun and I aren’t friends. I just tutor him.”

Jongin grins easily and sidles up to Kyungsoo. “It’s really funny that you say that because you tutor Sehun every Tuesday and Saturday at 8. Those aren’t normal business hours. Sehun’s got a really packed schedule and that’s the only time he can meet. So you went out of your way to find a time to tutor him. That’s not something you would do for someone who wasn’t a friend. And also, I mean I’m not a tutor, but I doubt a lot of tutors invite there tutees to come to a soccer game with them.”

Kyungsoo grimaces and makes a displeased sound at the back of his throat. “Okay, so we’re kind of friends. But I’m not one of Sehun’s closest friends. If you really want to do well with him, I would suggest going to one of his close friends. I know for a fact that Seungri’s in the art room right now working on his portfolio. Go ask him.”

It’s Jongin’s personal rule to never try to make friends with his subject’s friends. They’re always suspicious and more likely to find something wrong with him. He doesn’t need that type of scrutiny. Kyungsoo’s not such a close friend that he’ll be too suspicious of Jongin. Plus he doesn’t disguise how much he dislikes Jongin and Jongin is LOVING it.

“Nah, friends tend to dissuade friends from dating if they’re also not dating someone. I want Sehun and I to already be together before I approach his close friends. You’re a good choice because you’re not that invested. Perks of being kinda friends.”

“You’re the only person who would describe that as a perk.”

“It makes me stand out from the crowd, so it’s a good thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

Jongin gives Kyungsoo a level stare. “It’s a great thing because it’s going to help me.”

“These are the words of a terrible person.”

“You already think I’m terrible, so I’m not going to take it personally.”

“I wish you would.”

Jongin’s going to ignore that as well. He needs to think of what he’s going to say. He has the tentative plan of suggesting something to Kyungsoo that only D.O. would know, but he’s a little hesitant. One, because Kyungsoo’s one of the smartest guys he knows and might possibly see through it, and two, more honestly, he kinds of wants Kyungsoo to not be involved. They’re kind of friends now. And if he knew then it would mean Kyungsoo’s been lying to him extensively and that leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

But he needs to be objective here. This is for his own project and if it does somehow turn out that Kyungsoo’s lying to him then it’s better to find out sooner than later.

“Okay, so it’s going pretty well with Sehun, but I’d like it to go better. Spring Break is next week and I’m not going to have physical contact with him. I have his number, so I’ll text him over break, and then it’s the big party thrown by the football team. You know what I’m talking about?”

Kyungsoo hums in lieu of a response. His black hair’s starting to fall in his eyes, but he makes no move to swipe it out of his eyes or push back up his glasses which are starting to fall down his nose. It makes Jongin realize that overall Kyungsoo is an unnaturally still person. That means it’s a practiced skill. Jongin’s impressed. Kyungsoo has really committed himself to diminishing his presence.

“Yeah, the weekend before the tournament, football throws the party for the soccer team because soccer throws the party for football in the fall.”

“Exactly. It’s a big party that the whole school goes to, and do you know why that’s so important?”

“I’m not a child, Jongin. I know why it’s important. School legend says that if you go to that party with your crush, you’ll end up together. It also determines the power couples for next year. But you’re focusing on the first part I presume.”

Jognin snaps his fingers. “And that’s why I’m coming to you! Exactly! None of us say that we’re superstitious, but we’re all more susceptible than we think are. It’s romantic. We all fall into the temptation of believing in soul mates even if it isn’t logically sound. This party embodies that belief.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t react. He just continues to stare up at Jongin with those big eyes of his. Jongin knows he’s getting a little giddy; he’s on the edge of revealing his project, but he can’t help it. The party not only embodies the belief, it embodies his project too.

“I believe in it too, you know? It feels like you have to date the person you take there. It's fate.”

“Roughly 80% of the couples who get together after that party end up breaking up within the first month. The 20% who stay together end up becoming the new power couples. That hope creates an illusion, but it’s gone within a month. I don't think that it's fate.”

“Perhaps, but I really like Sehun and I think Sehun really likes me, so it won’t be an illusion.”

Kyungsoo breaks his from his stillness by pushing his glasses up his nose and fixing his hair. “Then why bother at all with the myth of the party?”

Jongin nods. It’s a good question, and the real answer to it is that every girl he’s gone after had loved the romanticism. They always said yes to dating him after he took them to the party whether or not they had real affection for him. He can’t say that to Kyungsoo though.

“Even if you don’t believe in the myth, most of the school accepts that if someone asks you to the party, they probably like you.”

Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose and furrows it, which is what he always does when he’s thinking hard. “You want the party to serve as a confession?”

“Quasi-confession. I don’t want him to be in doubt that I like him, but it won’t be the proper confession yet anyway.  It’s not the right time.” _but you know that_ is what Jongin wants to tack on. Jongin always sticks to confessing on the date after the party. Any affiliate of D.O. knows that.

“You want to wait then?” Kyungsoo’s face is exceedingly blank and back to be unnaturally still. His eyes don’t waver when Jongin meets them. Jongin can’t tell if Kyungsoo fell for the trap or not. But the stillness is unnerving, it’s completely intentional and Jongin doesn’t know if it’s because Kyungsoo’s hiding something or if it’s just how he chooses to be all the time. Or he knows that Jongin likes to read people and he doesn’t want to be read.

“Yeah, at least a little bit, but I need your help before that. I want you to dissuade Sehun from saying yes to anyone else. Secret admirers always come out around the time of the party.”

“Is that all?”

“No. I also want you to help me pick out a gift for Sehun.”

“A gift? Like what? A stuffed animal?”

“No, something more practical. I don’t know what yet.”

Kyungsoo sighs. Jongin can see that he knows where this is going. “You don’t really need me to help you, do you? You just want to make me suffer.”

Jongin grin and boops Kyungsoo’s nose. “That’s right. You and I will be spending Saturday morning at the mall.”

Kyungsoo sighs again. “Fine, but you can’t stand anywhere near my locker anymore, got it?”

Jongin’s grin widens. “Of course. Anything for my good friend, Soo!”

Kyungsoo’s lips thin into a straight, unamused line. “Get out.”

Jongin pouts exaggeratedly. “Aw, but Soo, don’t you want the whole school to see us walk out of the closet together?”

Kyungsoo points to the door. “Get out.”

Jongin starts to make wet, sloppy kissing sounds. It’s the wrong (or is it the right?)  move because it enrages Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo slams his closed fist against Jongin’s shoulder repeatedly. “Get out.”

Jongin leaves laughing. Kyungsoo’s not very strong, but he makes up for it in speed. There’s almost no recovery time between blows. It’s actually starting to hurt, but Jongin’s too focused on how energetic Kyungsoo is. He’s always so calm, but now Kyungsoo’s red in the face, brows furrowed until they’re almost touching. He looks like an angry, little penguin, and it’s so laughable.

Jongin slips out the door, but not before getting one last hit from Kyungsoo. What a ferocious little guy. Luckily no one sees him exit the closet.

Once he’s far enough away, he lets his smile drop, and he thinks over what’s happened. Kyungsoo didn’t fall for his first trap. At least in an obvious way. So Jongin’s set a second trap and hopes that one will have more conclusive results. But he is convinced of one thing. If D.O. is somehow Chanyeol or someone related, Kyungsoo will know.

II.

Rarely does Minseok allow people into his room, but today he makes an exception for Kyungsoo and Sehun. It's an emergency. Supposedly. Minseok thinks Kyungsoo's a little dramatic with his word choice.

Minseok’s chosen to sprawl across his bed, Sehun’s chosen the desk chair, and Kyungsoo’s leaning against the desk drawers.

“So what’s the problem?” Minseok asks.

“He’s suspicious. He gave me way too much information to see how I would react.”

“Does that mean it’s over?”

Minseok shakes his head and waves his hand in Sehun’s general direction. “Not at all. He’s suspicious. He won’t quit until he’s 100% certain, and maybe not even then. He’s just as arrogant about his own cleverness as Kyungsoo is.” Kyungsoo squawks in protest. “Protest all you want, Kyung. In any case even if he does figure out, he’ll probably try to figure out how he can use it to his own advantage. We’re quite safe.”

It’s going to take more to assuage Kyungsoo’s fears. “But he’s still suspicious towards us.”

“It’s not great, but you’ve won in tougher odds. What? Do you want a plan?”

Kyungsoo scoffs.  "I always have a plan. What I want is certainty.”

“Don’t we all,” Sehun mutters as he fiddles with a cat figurine on Minseok’s desk.

Minseok lets out a bark of laughter. “He’s right, Kyung. You’re going to have to aim for something more tangible. Start with your plan.”

Kyungsoo breathes out in an attempt to calm down. He’s had twinges of an anxiety headache ever since he met with Jongin. It didn’t help that he felt embarrassed as to how he acted when getting Jongin to leave. He can’t believe he lost control like that.

“So he wants to go to the mall this Saturday to find a present for Sehun.”

Sehun looks up abruptly, almost dropping the cat figurine. Minseok hisses at him to be careful, but Sehun doesn’t hear him.

“He wants to get me a present?” Sehun’s blushing slightly.

Minseok groans when he sees Sehun’s reaction. “Save it for Jongin. It’s the pen, right?”

“It should be. He always likes to gift it before the party.”

“A pen?”

Kyungsoo pulls out his phone and pulls up a picture of a grey fountain pen. He shows it to Sehun. “It’s a basic fountain pen. He’s gotten it for all of his conquests. The only difference between them is that he engraves it with their name. He always gives it before he asks them to the party. It works out well because it’s a nice, practical gift with the engraving of their name giving it just the right amount of romanticism.”

Sehun takes the phone and zooms in on the photo. It is really nice and he knows he’d like it as a present. “So you’re going to go get this pen for me on Saturday?”

“I think so, but I think it’s a trap.”

“Because he didn’t say anything about a pen. He said a present, right? He was looking for the one thing only D.O. would know.”

Kyungsoo groans. “But I don’t even know how he knew that I knew about the pen. The only way I found out was because Sunny used it all the time in English, and then it was only pure luck that Taeyeon happened to throw her's away in the infirmary trash can right before I came in.”

"Rummaging through the trash like you're the fucking raccoon king," Minseok laughs under his breath.

"Shut the fuck up." Kyungsoo grabs a book from the desk and hurls it at him. It misses Minseok by a mile. He's not very athletically inclined.

Sehun brings their attention back to the topic at hand. “It sounds like he’s assuming you know everything about what he’s doing.”

Minseok looks over surprised at Sehun. “Well, well, well, would you look at that? Pretty boy over here has been holding out on us.”

Kyungsoo looks up and laughs. “He sure has. Come on Sehun, what else does that deceptive mind of yours have to offer?”

Sehun blushes under all the praise, but he takes his time to think. He starts slowly. “I think that if I were Jongin and I thought you were D.O., I would deliberately take you to a place that sold pens. If you avoided mentioning giving a pen as a gift, I think I would take that as an admission of guilt because that would mean you were deliberately avoiding it.”

“Which would mean you know the significance of the pen,” Minseok finishes. He looks at Kyungsoo and nods at Sehun. “I think he’s got it. That’s got to be the trap’s he going to set. I think you should listen to Sehun on this one.”

Kyungsoo nods and pats Sehun’s knee. “Yeah. We’ll follow Sehun’s lead on this one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at Sehun deceiving with the best of them. Kyungsoo and Minseok have corrupted him.
> 
> You guys are the best! Thank you for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

I.

Sehun knows he’s smart, both in terms of grades and common sense. But for the life of him, he cannot understand anything about this competition between Jongin and Kyungsoo, and he knows that it’s a competition for Kyungsoo regardless of what he says. He’s more than confident that it’s the same for Jongin even though Jongin mostly likely regards it as a project as well.

Just suggesting the plan to Kyungsoo about the pen, while nice to be complimented on his mental prowess, made him feel anxious. There’s too much on the line for nothing at all.

And he means nothing.

Sehun can’t think of a single thing that will be gained from Kyungsoo winning the competition. Sure Jongin will be exposed, but they’re graduating in three months. Jongin will be reduced to a myth at most for about three years, and then even that'll disappear. That’s hardly gratifying.

Kyungsoo’s also not going to do anything with the data he’s collecting. At best, he’ll show it to a college professor, and the college professor will encourage grad school, but Kyungsoo was probably going to be recommended for that anyway.

And then on Jongin’s side, if he wins, he’ll have the gratification of beating D.O., but what does that matter if Jongin doesn’t know who D.O. is. Kyungsoo’s not going to let himself be caught. He’s too cautious for that.

Jongin will also have completed his own project for the first time. But he’s majoring in Dance, so there’s nothing he can do with his data.

It’s the most pointless competition he’s ever seen, and he once ate 6-day-old takeout for bragging rights.

So it’s the most pointless competition he’s ever seen and the most stressful one. Kyungsoo’s never not on his guard and is always analyzing every single thing. Jongin’s always in Prince Charming mode, and while sweet, it’s starting to get on Sehun’s nerves. He can’t stand people who are always positive. He can’t relate to it, and it doesn't seem realistic. He'd have a better chance of winning over Sehun by a jerk.

All of this together begs the question: why do it?

Why the competition? Why the analysis? Why the data?

And the best Sehun can come up with is that they get off on it. Both of them mentally jerking each other off, and it is the single most unattractive thing Sehun’s ever witnessed.

For a hot second, he believed he might like Jongin, but Kyungsoo was right, annoyingly so; he just liked the attention. He feels just as flustered when Minseok or Kyungsoo compliment him.

Now any rose-colored glasses he was wearing are gone, and he sees everything as it is.

It’s a circle jerk for two.

And he’s just tired of it all. At first he wanted to get back at Jongin for stealing his girlfriend, but he can’t even find it in himself to be mad anymore. He can’t even remember the exact rumor anymore. Whether he stole Jongin’s girlfriend or Jongin stole his, it’s all a blur. He's just done now.

But he promised Kyungsoo, and he won't break a promise to his friend.

II.

Kyungsoo’s been waiting at the south mall entrance for half an hour and he is this close to leaving. He is so tired. He had spent the night over at Chanyeol’s with Baekhyun, Minseok and Sehun. They had stayed up until 7am playing video games. Now Kyungsoo’s paying the price. And it’s not like he’ll be sleeping anytime soon. Sehun’s leaving day after tomorrow so now they’re all going to spend tonight at Sehun’s along with Seungri and Yixing. Kyungsoo doesn’t really have the social battery for this, but he’s been ignoring his friends for sake the project and now he’s feeling guilty. His friends should be his first priority, so if Jongin’s not here in the next ten minutes, Kyungsoo’s leaving.

As if he hears Kyungsoo’s thoughts, Jongin appears in front of him, winded and out of breath. He runs a hand through his hair making it even more tousled than it was before. Kyungsoo hates that it still looks good. Genetics are so unfair.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late. I overslept. Taemin slept over last night and we went to bed late.”

Kyungsoo feels his lips thin. He’s not going to respond to that. He shouldn’t have to. “Let’s go. I’ve got things to do,” and he turns without even bothering to see if Jongin’s following.

“Hey, hey hey, wait for me. You don’t even know where we’re going.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t stop walking. “Do you? You sounded like your plan was to just walk around the mall until you found something that Sehun would like.”

Jongin’s hand creeps over Kyungsoo’s shoulder and pulls him back. “Yeah, yeah, so that was my plan. But I’m leading. It’s my present for Sehun.”

Kyungsoo scoffs. Jongin’s so whiny and “pushy, pushy. Fine, I’ll follow you.”

Jongin grins and leads the way. Kyungsoo swings his head lazily form side to side to see what stores they’re passing. He’s not much of a mall rat. Everything he wears are hand-me-downs from random cousins. He doesn’t really buy anything for himself except books, and the only bookstore is three streets over. So this is a new experience for him, and man, is it boring. He sees no point in aimless walking. Why couldn’t Jongin have chosen a test that had them sitting down and eating?

“Do you have anything in mind that Sehun would like?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Not really. I know he likes marine biology and swimming but that’s about it. Do you know anything else he likes?”

“Sweets,” Kyungsoo replies instantly. “Sehun always picks the sweetest thing on the menu.”

Jongin hums like he’s actually considering it, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at the action. They both know that Jongin’s going to go for the pen.

“Well let’s keep that in mind, but let’s keep looking around. I kind of have an idea, but I'm still not sure.”

Might as well go along with the act. “What?”

Jongin absently looks over at a store mannequin wearing a leather jacket and scratches at his neck. Kyungsoo begrudgingly admits to himself that Jongin would look great in it. Jongin can’t wear it though. Jongin chose his Prince Charming attire to be colorful polos and fitted jeans, and he can’t deviate from that style. It’s a good choice. It’s more dressed up than most of the kids, but not so nice it’s alienating. Jongin walks a fine line and he walks it well.

“A book.”

Kyungsoo snorts. “A book? Golly gee whiz! That’s so nice!”

Jongin frowns at him. “Why are you so sarcastic, Soo?”

God, he hates that Jongin calls him that. “I don’t know, Jongin. Maybe the fact that it’s 10am on a Saturday and you’re wasting my time by telling me we’re going to get a book. Do you know how many books exist in the world? Billions, and do you know how many bookstores are here in the mall? Because I do. It’s 0.”

Jongin smiles. “You seem to forget that this is also Special Friend Hang-Out Time. That’s all capitalized by the way. That’s how important this is to me.”

“No capitalizations. This is still blackmail.”

“So you say, but you have to admit you don’t protest nearly as much as you used to do. Some might even say you came along willingly.”

There’s no mistaking the eye twitch that occurs. “That’s subjective. Anyway, are you serious about the book? Because I was telling the truth when I said there aren’t any bookstores in here.”

“You must read a lot if you know where the bookstores are and aren’t.”

Kyungsoo wants to strangle Jongin. Jongin’s not even trying to stay on subject!

“Or you’ve lived here your entire life. There’s multiple possibilities for why I would know.”

“But for you, it’s because you read, am I right? I mean aside from that chessboard, the only thing in your room are books. Mostly science-fiction it looks like.”

Kyungsoo does enjoy science-fiction, but he’s more interested in the fact that Jongin apparently remembers exactly what’s in his room. It’s annoying for a lot of reasons, number one being Kyungsoo doesn’t like it. So he’s feeling a little petty when he responds, “There’s also a laptop with access to the internet. You’ve heard of the internet, right? Some people say it’s like having the entire world at your fingertips.”

“Back at it with sarcasm, I see. But seriously, Soo, tell me about your book interests and I’ll tell you what kind of book I want to get Sehun.”

 _But you’re going to get the fucking pen!_ Kyungsoo wants to scream, but he won’t. “Yeah, science-fiction, fantasy.” He doesn’t mention the American Psychology Journals he keeps under his bed. “Now tell me about the book you want to get Sehun.”

“So he likes Marine Biology, right? I thought I’d get him a book about it.”

Kyungsoo’s glad Jongin’s lying right now because that is the laziest present he has ever heard of. 

“Point still stands. No bookstores in this mall.”

Jongin shrugs. “Maybe we’ll visit the one on Main after we’re done. It’s just an idea, I’m not sold on it. I picked the mall first because there are more options.”

Great, Kyungsoo’s just ensnared himself for longer. God, he hopes they get to the pen store soon.

“Hey, look at that,” Jongin points to another mannequin this one in skinny jeans and a fitted t-shirt. Kyungsoo lazily eyes it. He doesn’t see what’s so great about it. The only reason it’s probably being displayed is because the store’s logo runs across the shirt.

“What about it?”

“It looks exactly like your style, but you know, fitted.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. He knows that all of his clothing is mismatch of ill-fitted jeans, t-shirts, and button-downs. That’s the point. You couldn’t pick him up out of a lineup of high-school boys.

“I like my style, thank you very much.”

“It’s so generic. You’re essentially screaming out that you don’t want to be noticed.”

“Yup, so we’ve ascertained. It’s why we’re hanging out in the first place.”

Jongin swings an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders. “You’re right. I shouldn’t complain since it’s the reason we’re hanging out in the first place. I should probably encourage it.”

Kyungsoo tries to step out from under Jongin’s arm, but Jongin clamps down on Kyungsoo’s shoulder to stop him. “I don’t like touching, Jongin.”

“This barely counts. Come on, I won’t make you get new clothes, but let’s go in anyways. There might be a present for Sehun in there.”

Kyungsoo lets himself be led into the store, and manages to successfully slip out when Jongin’s distracted looking at a shirt. 

Kyungsoo walks around the store and plays a game to pass the time. Every time he passes by an ugly shirt, he brings it over to Jongin. “What about this one?” This is the 13th time Kyungsoo’s done this now. Jongin is being incredibly patient. Even Baekhyun starts to get annoyed after the 10th shirt.

Jongin smiles genially at Kyungsoo, takes the puke-yellow tasseled  monstrosity from him, and pretends to consider it as an option. He slides his hand down the tassels. “It definitely says fun, but it might be too nice. Sehun might not have too many places to wear it. I want something he’ll wear a bit more often.” He hands it back to Kyungsoo.

Sehun probably still wouldn’t wear it even if there were a place. Kyungsoo takes the shirt back and returns it to its rack. This isn’t as much fun as Kyungsoo was hoping it would be. The game’s only fun if Jongin gets annoyed. And Jongin probably knows it, so Kyungsoo stops playing. He goes and waits by the door. He watches Jongin walk around the store for another 10 minutes. Finally, he come back over to Kyungsoo.

He shrugs, “I don’t know Sehun’s size,” and then he walks out.

Kyungsoo holds back a screech. They were in that store for 45 minutes! But Kyungsoo can’t say anything, so he follows Jongin, significantly more angry than when he arrived.

Jongin smiles teasingly down at him when he sees Kyungsoo’s next to him. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Oodles,” Kyungsoo gets out through gritted teeth.

Jongin laughs and pats him on the back. “Great. Let’s steer away from clothes since I don’t his size and focus on something else. There’s a board game store over there. Let’s check it out.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t need to be lead into this one. Minseok’s birthday is coming up and he loves board games. He might as well be productive while he’s here. He stands in front of the back wall, which is entirely dedicated to strategy games. Minseok loves to bamboozle his opponents.

Kyungsoo doesn’t notice Jongin standing behind him and surveying the wall.

“Does Sehun like strategy games?”

No,” Kyungsoo replies, not bothering to take his eyes off the wall. “Minseok does, and it’s his birthday in couple of weeks. I’ll probably get him one.”

“I’ll help you look.” Jongin steps forward to be side-by-side with Kyungsoo.

“No thanks. I’ve got it covered. I’ll probably get him an expansion pack. You can look for Sehun’s gift.”

Jongin doesn’t move. “Nah, it’s fine. I can always spare time to help out a friend. I probably won’t get Sehun a board game anyway. Now, does Minseok like a specific type of storyline in his games or just strategy games in general? Should I look for games with stuff like zombies on the front or dragons?”

Kyungsoo can’t do this. He leans forward and grabs an expansion pack for Minseok’s favorite board game. “This will do.”

Jongin’s laugh follows him to the register. Kyungsoo grits his teeth as he pays.

Once outside of the store, Jongin immediately points to another store. “Let’s try this one.”

Kyungsoo could almost cry from relief when he sees that it’s a calligraphy store. He’s so tired, but he nods. “Yeah okay.”

The inside of the store is mostly dominated by different types of stationary, but in the back is a glass case with fountain pens. Kyungsoo starts playing his game again; this time more focused on implementing Sehun’s strategy.

Holding up a pad of pink stationary with octopuses on it, Kyungsoo calls out to Jongin. “What about this?”

Jongin looks over and shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t think he’ll like it.”

Kyungsoo sets it back down and calls back out, “Well, would he like anything in here? You spent the last two weeks working on a project with him. Surely you would have a guess by now.”

“Someone’s getting cranky.”

Kyungsoo scoffs. He’s not cranky. He holds up another pack of stationary. This one has turtles on it, which Kyungsoo knows is Sehun’s favorite animal.

“This one?”

Jongin looks up briefly. “Nah, no stationary. I don’t think anyone will like getting a pack of paper as a present.”

Kyungsoo has to agree with that. He puts the paper back down and begins to walk aimlessly around the store. Jongin’s acting differently now. He’s not willing to indulge Kyungsoo’s game anymore. This is definitely the test.

Kyungsoo wanders over to the glass case and pretends to look at the fountain pens. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots the grey fountain pen Jongin normally buys, but he points to a metallic green one. “How about a pen?”

Jongin comes up behind him to look at the pen. Kyungsoo takes a step forward. He doesn’t like to feel crowded.

“That’s a pretty good idea actually. It’s useful, but this is nicer than a normal ballpoint. I don’t want to get him this one though. I don’t know if he likes green. How about that one?” Jongin points to the grey one.

If this were really about Sehun, Kyungsoo would insist on the green one. It’s Sehun’s favorite color, but since it isn’t, he agrees. “Sure, why not?”

A salesperson comes up and asks if she can help. Jongin points at the grey one, and within seconds he’s holding a small velvet box with the pen inside. It’s while they’re checking out, the salesperson asks, “Would you like to get your name engraved on it? We’re offering a sale right now. $2 per letter.”

“Yeah, that sounds great! It’s a good way to personalize it, don’t you think, Soo?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “Go for it.”

Jongin ignores Kyungsoo’s lack of enthusiasm and turns back to the salesperson. “Can you write Sehun on it?”

The salesperson nods and takes the pen to a backroom to get it engraved. Jongin smiles back at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo just stares back.

“This is a great present, don’t you think?”

“I guess.” Kyungsoo’s a little worried that he’s laying it on too thick, but he hopes that even if he didn’t know what was going on, he would still be just as lethargic.

Jongin nods to himself. “I think so. I really like fountain pens. They’re so smooth and you can change out the inks. There’s so many more colors available with fountain pens. You really don’t what you’re missing until you try one.”

Kyungsoo nods along. He really couldn’t care less about fountain pens, and now that the test is over, he couldn’t care less about this outing. But he might as well indulge Jongin further to try and throw him off the trail even more.

“So I’m guessing you have a fountain pen.”

“Yeah, it’s a gift from my parents. They’re professors on the lecture circuit, so they always get Suho and me fountain pens unique to each college they visit.”

Kyungsoo visibly straightens up. “Your parents are professors?”

“Dad’s a professor of anthropology and Mom’s a professor of evolutionary biology.” Jongin doesn’t seem too interested in what his parents do, but Kyungsoo’s floored. This is news. This is so interesting. Jongin comes from professors, and there’s no doubt that his process with his conquests comes from them as well.

Kyungsoo’s super interested in this, but he’s got to play it calm. “Oh, that’s pretty cool.”

Jongin smiles at him. "Yeah, I guess. Do you like either of those topics?”

Kyungsoo stalls for bit while he thinks. He can’t really voice why he finds it interesting, so he has to think of a lie. "Not really, but you're the first person I've met whose parents are professor. I think that's pretty cool. So you're not interested in going into the world of academia?"

 

Jongin shakes his head. "Nah, it's too petty. My parents always bring back stories of professors stealing each other's research or taking credit where it's not due. I'm not into that."

Kyungsoo nods. His mom has similar stories. "I get that. My mom says the same things."

"Oh yeah, your mom's a psychologist. I bet she has her share of stories as well. But that hasn't seem to dissuade you. You're doing a psychology internship, right?"

Ah, yeah. Kyungsoo did say something like that to him. Can't backtrack now. "Yeah. I've always found it interesting. But I probably won't take the academia  route. Most likely a run-of-the mill clinical psychologist."

Jongin nods. "Probably for the best."

Kyungsoo nods, but doesn't offer anything else. It seems like a bad idea to talk about psychology for too long.

It’s only a couple more minutes of silence before the salesperson comes back out with the newly engraved pen. Jongin pays for it and then they’re out the door.

Kyungsoo breaks the silence. “So you got your present.”

“Yeah. I think he’ll really like it. Thanks for helping me, Soo.” Jongin grins crookedly at him. 

"Yeah, I'm going to head out then." This has gone on long enough.

Jongin's trademark grin slithers its way back on his face. "Are you sure you don't want to hang out some more?"

Kyungsoo frowns. "I'll see you, Jongin."

Jongin laughs, but doesn't try to stop Kyungsoo from heading out. When Kyungsoo's far enough away, Jongin calls out very loudly, "Text me when you get back, Soosoo."

Kyungsoo swears at least half the mall turns to look at him.

 


	14. Chapter 14

I.

Jongin’s about to up his game. He’s going to be romantic as fuck tonight. Sehun’s leaving tomorrow afternoon for his camping trip with his brother, and Jongin wants to leave a good impression. So he’s going to go for a classic romantic gesture: throwing stones at his window.

He’s thought this through. He brought his own pebbles in the even that Sehun’s yard possessed none, and it was a good move. There are rocks, but Jongin’s not looking to break a window. Talk about unromantic. And he thinks that he came at the perfect time: 11:30. Parents are probably in bed, but the kids are still up. And Sehun’s brother isn’t home yet, so that lets Jongin know exactly where to find Sehun’s room. There’s only one light shining through a window, and it’s at this window that Jongin throws his first pebble.

It hits the bottom sill and it’s not loud enough. He throws his second pebble a little higher and a little harder. It hits square in the center, and Jongin is so stupid! He didn’t take into account that this pebble was hitting glass instead of wood like the first one. The sharp crack against the glass sounds like a gunshot in the silence.

Jongin drops to the ground and freezes. It’s a tense few seconds as Jongin waits for people to storm out of their houses and crucify him.

Nothing happens. And Jongin means nothing. No one even flicks on a light. There’s not even any movement from Sehun’s room.

Jongin slowly gets up in case there are some late-risers, but it seems like he’s in the clear.

He shakes himself briefly and dusts the dirt off his jacket. He jumps a couple of times to get himself ready for attempt #3. He’s going to go for a high underhand throw. Hopefully this will be a softer sound. He got lucky, but he can’t count on it to continue.

The third throw is a miss. It’s high enough, but not far enough. It falls short by a couple of feet. Jongin blows out air in frustration. To be honest, he thought this would be easier. He’s running out of pebbles, and Sehun’s seems to be deaf.

Screw romance.

Jongin takes out his phone and calls Sehun.

Sehun answers immediately. “Jongin? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you to look out your window.” Jongin should have considered that late night calls are usually emergency calls. Oh well, no harm, no foul.

Sehun draws back his curtain and looks down, phone still to his ear. Jongin waves to catch his attention. Sehun looks mildly confused to see Jongin on his lawn, but he quickly smiles.

“What are you doing?”

Jongin grins. “We’re going on an adventure. Grab a coat and come down. We’re on a bit of a schedule.”

“What are we doing?”

“It’s a surprise. Please. Just come down.”

Sehun seems to consider the request before nodding to himself and leaving the window. Jongin hopes that means he’s coming down. He’s gone to a lot of trouble for this surprise.

He bounces lightly on the balls of his feet while he waits.

Sehun comes out quickly enough wearing a heavy coat. The last few weeks of winter are really making themselves known.

“Hey, so where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Jongin repeats. “Follow me. It’s warmer in the car, and we’ve got a bit of a drive.”

Jongin left his car running and he thanks the gods when he’s inside. It’s so warm. Sehun seems to agree as he hums happily when he gets in. Jongin puts his car in in drive and then they’re off.

“I know you won’t tell me what we’re doing, but can you at least tell me how long we’ll be in the car?”

“For about an hour.”

“That’s quite a drive.”

“Yeah, but I promise that it’ll be worth it,” Jongin assures. To be honest, he’s feeling quite nervous about whether or not Sehun will like it.

“I trust you. It’s why I’m in the car.”

“Yeah, you are,” Jongin murmurs to himself. It’s kind of amazing that Sehun came with so little information.

Sehun laughs and smiles at Jongin. It’s the softest, warmest smile that Sehun’s ever given to him, and Jongin finds himself returning it.

Jongin feels light and happiness bubble up inside of himself. The dates are always the most enjoyable part of the project.

“Uh, do you want to hook up some music?”

“Sure. What do you like?”

Jongin shrugs. “Anything really.” That’s not true, but he can put up with anything for an hour.

Sehun nods and scrolls through his library, looking for something. He finally settles on some running remix. It’s an interesting choice to say the least.

They don’t talk much. Hours of swimming and practice are making them feel worn-down and tired. It might not be the best idea to do this, but Jongin’s not willing to push anything back. He has a schedule to keep and a menace looking to stop him.

As they get closer to the city, more cars appear on the road until they’re stuck in a sea of cabs picking up people trying to squeeze the last bit of fun out of the weekend. Jongin tsks and sighs when he sees they’ve driven only one block in ten minutes. He really should have picked something that wasn’t on the far side of town.

“Traffic’s really bad. Are we under a real time crunch?” Sehun asks as he watches a driver flick him off when he’s the one cutting Jongin off. He scowls and throws one right back. City drivers.

That’s a loaded question really. He planned with an extra half hour for leeway, but chances are he’s going to be too tired to drive within a couple hours.

“Kind of.”

Sehun just hums, and goes back to watching the cars.

Once they get past a couple more lights, the traffic thins out considerably, and Jongin can finally floor it. After that it’s a quick fifteen-minute drive to their destination: the aquarium.

Sehun looks up in wonder at the building. Even completely dark, it’s an imposing building. It’s essentially one giant concrete block. One wouldn’t be able to guess that it housed the biggest collection of sea creatures in the country.

“The aquarium? What are we doing here?” Sehun asks, getting out of the car to get a better look. He already looks extremely excited.

“One of my friends works here and he’s going to let us go through it tonight.” That’s the skim version of what happened. Really it’s Suho’s girlfriend’s brother’s best friend who is letting them in tonight, and even then Jongin had to shell out $300. Sehun doesn’t need to know that.

“Really? Are you serious?”

Sehun’s glowing right now. Jongin has never seen him more excited, and he can feel himself get giddy just form watching Sehun.

“Yeah. Come on, he’s waiting for us.”

They walk around to the security entrance where Jongin knocks on the door and the guard lets them in.

“Sehun, this is Jungwoo, my friend who works here.”

Jungwoo’s been coached on what to do. He bows slightly to Sehun. “It’s nice to meet you. Jongin’s told me a lot about you.”

Sehun returns his bow. “It’s nice to meet you too. Thank you for letting us in here.”

“No problem. Now I’m supposed to be walking the premises to make sure no one unwanted gets in. The next guy on the shift gets in around 3. You need to be out of here before then. Is that cool?”

Jongin nods. “Yeah, we’ll be out. Thanks again.”

Jungwoo nods and turns around to continue his patrolling. Jongin gestures to Sehun to follow him as he pulls a map out of his back pocket.

“You came prepared.”

Jongin shrugs a while he looks at the map. He wants to start with the jellyfish. “I’ve been planning this for awhile.”

“You have?” Sehun asks surprised, his face pink to show how pleased he is.

“Yeah, let’s go this way. The jellyfish are the reason why we’re here at night.”

Sehun gasps. “The Pelagia Noctiluca?”

Jongin thinks he’s talking about jellyfish, albeit a very specific species, so he nods. “The lights are almost completely off, so it should be really easy to see their glow.”

Jongin’s practically pulled off his feet as Sehun grabs his arm and leads him to the jellyfish tank. Jongin should have known that Sehun would know the layout better than him.

The entire aquarium is dark except for emergency lighting in the floor panels bathing the hallways and rooms in a soft blue. And Jongin thanks the luck gods that are on his sides. Talk about romantic! Honestly, he doesn’t know how he’s going to top this. This is the pinnacle of charm and romance.

The jellyfish are honestly a lot cooler than Jongin would have thought. They’re purple and translucent and just super flowy. They just bob in the water while emitting a really faint light. They’re cool, but Jongin loses interest after a couple of minutes.

Sehun doesn’t though. Sehun’s enthralled from the moment he sees them. He stands nose to the glass to look at them, trying to take in every single detail. They’re so beautiful. He loves them.

Jongin watches amusedly as Sehun just stands frozen in front of the tank. It’s quite cute how much Sehun loves it. But when it starts to push towards ten minutes, Jongin has to step in. They have an entire aquarium to get through.

“Sehun, we should move on so we can see more.”

Sehun reluctantly pulls himself away from the tank and walks over to Jongin. He points to a hall to the left. “We should start there. It leads to the tunnel of fish and then winds throughout the entire aquarium. I think the last tank is the tiger sharks.”

Jongin pointedly crushes the map into his back pocket and grins. “I guess we don’t need this, huh? Please, lead the way.”

Sehun blushes and coughs to cover his embarrassment. “Uh, yeah. This is my favorite place. I come here at least once a month, but this is the first time I’ve been here at night. And it’s already so much cooler. I’m so glad you brought me here.”

It’s Jongin’s turn to blush at the praise. “It’s a pleasure.”

Sehun leads him through the tunnel of fish pointing out and naming all the species of fish that they’re able to see in the low lighting. Sehun wasn’t kidding when he said he liked marine biology. They don’t pass a sea creature that Sehun can’t name.

They move as slowly as possible through the aquarium as possible, but even then, they end up stopping for half an hour when they get to the sea turtles. The turtles aren’t out, but Sehun wants to wait just in case one peeks its head out. He’s severely disappointed when one doesn’t, but his mood picks back up when the get to the octopus, and ends up watching it twirl around for twenty minutes. Jongin decides not to push him to go faster if this is what he wants to do.

Jongin’s happy Sehun’s having so much fun, but he’s a little disappointed. He didn’t know that most of the more exotic animals have separate sleeping areas, so they wouldn't actually be able to see them. He suspects that’s what happened with the sea turtles. _Well,_ he thinks,  _the main thing was the jellyfish, and that worked out nicely_.

Eventually though, it starts edging closer to three, and Jongin’s really starting to feel it. Sehun watches the tiger shark tank for a few minutes before he turns back to Jongin just in time to watch him stifle a yawn. He smiles softly.

“It’s pretty late. We can go home.”

Jongin nods, and leads them back to the security entrance. Jungwoo’s waiting for them, impatiently tapping his foot.

“You guys sure are pushing it. My replacement’s going to be here any minute. Come on, get out.”

Jongin and Sehun both apologize and book it out of there. After they’re in the car, Jongin checks his phone: 3:02. They really were pushing it, but luck is clearly on his side tonight.

He looks over at Sehun as he starts the car up. Sehun smiles widely at him and laughs. “That was so great, man. I loved it. Thanks again.”

“I’m just happy you liked it so much.”

It’s a quiet drive back and Jongin wonders if he did anything, but a quick look over reveals that Sehun’s fallen asleep. He smiles and turns back forward. This night really couldn’t have gone better.

II.

“He took you to the aquarium at night, and it was just you two?” Kyungsoo ask again for clarification as he writes it down in the book. While he listens to Sehun recount the date, he puts the call on speakerphone, rolls across his room to his bookshelf, pulls out the last four books, and rolls back to his desk. He flips all of them open to where he’s given an itemized list of each person’s dates (there are page numbers next to them for a more thorough description of each date). But he quickly runs a finger down the page in each of the books and scowls. This is an anomaly in Jongin’s usual game plan.

Kyungsoo goes over the books again just to make sure. Sehun’s date is an anomaly. Jongin has different levels of dates depending on whether or not they’re dating. Jongin’s dates for not dating, which is where he and Sehun are right now, are usually pretty chaste. They’re walks, ice cream, coffee, a movie, etc. Pretty tame stuff you’d get in like a teen movie. That's a little concerning, but Kyungsoo would be alright even if the aquarium date was in the dating section of dates. Except it’s not.

The dating dates are a little more romantic, intimate and consist of nice dinners, amusement parks, day trips, picnics, anything that requires a little more planning and commitment, but even these are well within in the realm of high school dating.

Jongin has never done anything on the level of the aquarium. If Kyungsoo had to give it a level, it’d be one of those intense romantic dramas that he doesn’t watch. This is what you do to someone when you want to propose.

Kyungsoo’s like 95% sure Jongin doesn’t want to, but he’s sure playing hard right now.

“And then he drove me home. I fell asleep though, so we didn’t talk. It was a really nice night. It felt like he was delivering the final blow to make me fall in love with him.”

Kyungsoo hums as he writes Sehun’s account of the date. “He’s really going all the way. I’ve never seen him go this quickly or far.”

“Really?”

Kyungsoo finishes his last sentence and scans over the page. It’s the most information he’s ever had on any date, and he’s pleased with the amount of data he’s collected. “Yeah, you definitely get the medal for most romantic date in the entire history of the game.”

“He might just be feeling the pressure of D.O.”

Kyungsoo nods before he realizes Sehun can’t see him. “That sounds right. It is the first time he’s known about D.O. It was expected he would do things differently. This character could also require being more romantic.”

“Prince Charming is the definition of romantic.”

Kyungsoo grunts in agreement and looks over at The-Boy-Next-Door book. He wrinkles his nose. “It’s weird though that there isn’t any date remotely similar to this especially for The-Boy-Next-Door. That one’s also pretty romantic, and if anything, is the one in charge of the sweet gestures.”

Sehun’s quiet as he thinks, but Kyungsoo hears Sehun’s brother ask him something in the background. “Hyeonsok wants to know if he did anything remotely similar with The-Boy-Next-Door.”

Kyungsoo looks over the list again. “There’s horseback riding here since Taeyeon really likes horses, but that was at one of those farms in the middle of the day. It’s not really romantic. I think that more falls solely under a sweet gesture. It’s not inherently romantic like a one-on-one date in a softly-lit aquarium. The aquarium thing is like the stuff people dream about, but don’t expect. The horseback riding only has the one element. The aquarium fits both.”

Kyungsoo waits while Sehun explains what he said to Hyeonsok. He starts flipping through his previous journals. The more he looks, the more it becomes apparent Jongin’s really trying to seduce Sehun. Except it’s not as in character as his past conquests have been. The Prince Charming character’s still not a perfect fit for him, and that’s kind of odd. Jongin’s usually really good at taking on his characters.

Kyungsoo wonders if something’s up. The most incriminating piece of evidence that bothers him is that Jongin treats him differently. That’s really a big no-no in terms of what he’s going for.

“Hyeonsok says you should just expose him now.”

“Nah, we wait for the big reveal. At this point, I feel like I deserve something dramatic.”

“How much more dramatic can you get than exposing someone who’s essentially a con artist?”

“We put his face on a big screen with the words 'lying motherfucker' underneath it.”

“Brutal.”

Kyungsoo laughs. Sehun has no idea.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

I.

It’s by pure luck that Jongin finds Kyungsoo at the coffee shop closest to school. He almost misses him. Kyungsoo doesn’t stand out, and if Jongin hadn’t caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, he would have walked right on by.

But he recognizes that hand motion.

It was one of the odder things about Kyungsoo. Whenever he smiled, he would furiously wipe at his mouth to get rid of the smile. Jongin wants to ask, but Kyungsoo never really shares anything personal unless he’s distracted. With that said, Jongin doubts that he’ll be getting Kyungsoo to play chess again anytime soon.

Kyungsoo’s got two generic composition books out in front of him, and he’s staring at them intently. He’ll reference one before writing in the other, he’ll scrub at his mouth, and then the process starts over.

Jongin wants to bother him.

He goes in and waits in line to order something. The coffee bar is at the far side of the shop away from the windows giving Jongin the perfect view of Kyungsoo. It’s really interesting. Kyungsoo’s incredibly focused on whatever he’s reading. He doesn’t look up once, not even when someone trips over a table leg and spills their drink on the floor. Kyungsoo’s eyes don’t even waver. He only leans closer to his notebooks. It’s impressive.

Jongin grabs his hot chocolate from the counter at the end and walks over to slip into the seat opposite Kyungsoo. He wonders whether Kyungsoo will notice him right away or take a few minutes.

Kyungsoo’s very aware of his personal space, so the moment Jongin gets within three feet of him, he notices. He looks up startled, wide eyes going impossibly wider, and sweeps both books into his lap. He rushes to close them and shove them in his bag.

Jongin watches all of this with amusement. Kyungsoo’s usually not so energetic. He’s calm and cool and collected unless Jongin does something truly outrageous. Jongin hasn’t even done anything this time.

Kyungsoo looks up with a cough and a sheepish smile. “Uh, sorry. They’re my notes for my internship and I don’t really like people seeing them.”

Jongin finds it odd that Kyungsoo’s offering him that kind of information freely. He’s usually more reserved. Jongin withholds a frown from appearing on his face. Kyungsoo’s lying to him.

Jongin’s still suspicious about Kyungsoo and how he fits into the whole D.O. operation. He’s too smart. He didn’t act oddly about the pen, but maybe he doesn’t know everything. The pen is one of the smaller parts of the project. It can really be overlooked in the  grand scheme of things. But it still doesn’t erase the fact that Chanyeol knew too much. And if he were Chanyeol, he would definitely utilize Kyungsoo.

Jongin needs to be careful.

“Your ‘television trope’ internship, right? Are you sure I can’t look? It sounds interesting.”

Kyungsoo’s bottom lip is sucked in between his teeth as he seems to take in Jongin. Jongin had no idea that showing him a notebook would be such an ordeal. It shouldn’t be such an ordeal. Kyungsoo’s definitely hiding something.

Kyungsoo finally huffs, and Jongin thinks he catches a hint of a pout before Kyungsoo turns to take out one of his notebooks. It’s rather frayed around the edges, and every corner is smudged with graphite. Kyungsoo flips to the last page and slides it over to Jongin.

“This is the overview and conclusion of the second trial. Subject K represents the control and Subject Z is the test variable. We tested to see how Subject Z would react to Subject K.”

Jongin looks down eagerly. He hadn’t been lying when he said he was interested.

 

_**Subject K was chosen because of their closeness to Subject Z. The relationship between K and Z goes back six years. For this reason, K is ideal for the Television Trope: The-Overlooked-Lover.** _

_**K began by performing thoughtful tasks for Z. K brought Z their favorite drink and supported them through the loss of a significant other. K’s most effective action was simply being available to Z. This** active constructive **behavior exhibited specifically during Z’s happiest moments was shown to be the most effective in establishing a connection.**_

_**K asked Z to a party thrown by their peers. This was K’s first romantic proclamation. K continued to invite Z on dates catered to Z’s interests. Z quickly began to reciprocate K’s own romantic interest. K presented Z with a gift and asked Z to be romantically involved. Z accepted the offer with much enthusiasm. K and Z were romantically involved for 5 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days.** _

_**Z broke off the relationship upon the revelation of the trial. Z admitted to believing fully in K despite recognizing the similarities with the common trope**_.

 

Jongin frowns. There’s something about this that bothers him. There’s the obvious similarity to his own project, but it’s not that. There have been thousand of case studies on television authenticity. It’s how he got the idea in the first place.

"This is kind of vague, isn't it?"

Kyungsoo shrugs. “Yeah, at the time, I believed since I had already put down the data in the earlier pages, I didn’t have to be as specific in the conclusion. I really worked on it in the later trials.”

Jongin nods. That makes sense. Some things can only be taught by experience. He gestures to Kyungsoo’s bag. “Can I read one of the newer ones?”

Kyungsoo takes back the first notebook and shakes his head. “The second notebook isn’t a newer trial. I was rewriting this one so it would be cleaner and easier to read. One of the professors at the college I’m interested in asked if she could see my project. I’ve been rewriting all of my trial notes.”

Jongin nods. That all makes sense. Everything connects then, which means Kyungsoo’s not lying. He thinks anyway, but Kyungsoo’s desperation to hide the notebooks is still weird. Maybe Kyungsoo is more self-conscious than he thought, which is odd because Kyungsoo also struck him as quietly confident.

Jongin’s surprised to find the information more jarring than he would necessarily have thought. His stomach swirls unpleasantly.

He mentally shakes himself. Now’s not the time for such thoughts.

“What university?”

Kyungsoo looks very reluctant to impart that information. “K University.”

Jongin smiles broadly. “You want to go there too? It’s my first choice. Best dance program in the country outside of the performing colleges.”

Kyungsoo looks supremely displeased with this information, and man, doesn't that make Jongin happy?

“I also heard that it’s the best psych program in the country, which is probably why you’re applying, right?”

“Yeah…” Kyungsoo looks at his phone before looking up at Jongin. It’s such a fake gesture. Jongin knows exactly what he’s going to do, seconds before Kyungsoo does it.

“So I gotta go…”

“No, you don’t.” Jongin’s shutting this down right now. “We’re going to hang out. It’s almost the end of spring break and we haven’t hung out once.”

Kyungsoo pokes his tongue against his cheek as he looks out the window. When he looks back, he’s got his trademark sardonic expression. This is the Kyungsoo Jongin knows. It’s very pleasing to see him back to normal.

“Baekhyun’s been practicing non-stop for auditions, I imagine you’re in the same boat. Baekhyun’s actually practicing today.”

Jongin laughs at the unspoken implication. “I sprained my waist a couple years back, so I’ve got to take it easy. I went to bed really late last night, and I was in a hurry, so I didn’t stretch out as much as I should have. So my waist’s a little sore today. Can’t dance.”

Kyungsoo looks a little ashamed. “Sorry about your waist. I’m glad you’re taking it easy today.”

Jongin smirks. “Why, thank you.”

That’s the wrong move. Any shame Kyungsoo had is gone. “I take it back. I hope you slip a disc.”

Jongin pouts. “That’s rude.”

Kyungsoo scowls. “I hope you slip two discs.”

“Wow, you are a dick!”

Kyungsoo stands up. “I’m going to go get another coffee. Can I get you another froufrou drink?”

Jongin holds up the mostly depleted cup. “This is hot chocolate.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said, a froufrou drink.”

Jongin gets up. “I’ll come with you and order myself. You’re paying.”

“It’s what I was offering.” Kyungsoo exaggeratedly throws an arm out to let Jongin know to go first.

“I’ll show you froufrou,” Jongin mutters as he passes by.

Kyungsoo snorts.

At the counter, Kyungsoo elbows Jongin back so he can go first. “Hi, can I have a large drip coffee?”

It’s Jongin’s turn to snort. “How boring. It's just like you. Let me show you what a man orders. Hi, can I have a caramel frappuccino with three pumps of toffeenut and extra whip cream?”

After the barista steps away form the register to make their drinks, Kyungsoo scowls. “That’s not a man’s drink. That’s a hassle.”

Jongin just boops him on the nose before walking down to the counter on the end. Kyungsoo’s scowl deepens, but he can only follow after Jongin. He also ordered a drink after all.

They wait the few minutes it take for their drinks to be made in silence. It’s not for lack of trying on Jongin’s part. Kyungsoo keeps shutting him down. Jongin doesn’t deserve this.

He reaches around behind Kyungsoo, taps Kyungsoo’s other shoulder, quickly brings his hand back to his side and then looks forward with a stern expression.

An eye twitches. Swiftly followed by an elbow to the stomach. Kyungsoo has to have the boniest elbows in existence.

Jongin groans quietly under his breath, but Kyungsoo hears him. It’s not attractive to see his own smirk on Kyungsoo’s face.

II.

Minseok, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had annoyingly decided to come over to the Do’s house on a Saturday night and put their feet on the living room table. Kyungsoo feels his eye twitch when he sees how muddy Minseok’s shoes are. He probably ran on the park path during the rain. Again.

“So I ordered three cheese pizzas for us courtesy of Father Jonathan. They’ll be here in 20 minutes. I thought during that time we would gossip like the little school girls we are and then watch the horror movie Chanyeol ripped from the web.”

“You’re terrible with horror movies, Baek.”

Baekhyun dislodges one of his shoes and throws it at Minseok’s head. At least it’s not on the table anymore.

“Look man, I’ve already decided that I’m not going to sleep tonight. Might as well make it impossible.”

Kyungsoo looks over at Chanyeol. “You’re dating an idiot.”

Baekhyun’s second shoe is thrown at Kyungsoo. “Say that to my face, you coward!”

Kyungsoo tersely wipes away a dusty shoe print from his hoodie while he looks Baekhyun straight in the eye. “You are the biggest idiot I have ever met.”

“You can only say that cause you can’t meet yourself.”

“Min!”

No one’s doing you any favors by lying to you.”

“I’m not—“

Baekhyun claps his hands together. “Children, children. Now is not the time for such petty squabbles.  I have information to share and gossip to spread.”

“How are you defining ‘gossip’?” Minseok asks before he ends up fending up Baekhyun’s sock. Baekhyun tends to strip when confronting people. It is the single most interesting quirk that Baekhyun possesses.

“I’m not taking questions at this time. Anyway, bitches, information tonight revolves around the Spring Party.”

“Why wou—“

“Silence!” Baekhyun screeches. Alarmed, Kyungsoo looks at the stairs to make sure his parents don’t come down. “As I was saying, information tonight revolves around the Spring Party. As we all know it’s held specifically by the sophomore football players a.k.a it's that bastard Seokjin. What is usually undecided is the theme of the party.”

“It’s not supposed to be revealed until next week. Are you saying you know? How do you know?”

Baekhyun reaches across with a bare foot to the armchair where Minseok is and gently rests it on his thigh. “Silence, I will reveal all.”

Minseok violently drags his thigh in so Baekhyun’s foot falls. “Don’t touch me.”

“Prickly. Anyway, seeing as how they’re all 15 and 16-year-olds who so much as piss themselves whenever a girl even looks at them, I got Yeonsoo to ask them. It could not have been easier.”

“How did Yeonsoo not know? She’s our queen bee.” Kyungsoo gets hit in the face with Baekhyun’s other sock.

“I thought I said silence. So do you want to know what the theme is?”

No one talks. After awhile of being friends with Baekhyun you get used to his behavior and you start to learn it. And this is lesson number one: the dramatic pause. A good dramatic pause is three seconds.

Baekhyun milks those three seconds.

“A Fairytale Ending.”

There’s dead silence for a good two minutes until Kyungsoo breaks it.

“You’re shitting me.”

Baekhyun cackles. “No, I am not. Those little fuckers not only chose a super boring, unimaginative theme, they chose Kyungsoo’s project. It’s fate.”

“Don’t say those words to me.”

“How are they pulling it off?”

Baekhyun boops Chanyeol’s nose. “I’m glad you asked, babe.” Minseok and Kyungsoo gag. “It’s a costume party. We dress up like fairytale couples. And I know what you’re thinking, there’s only so many fairytale couples. But it’s very generalized. We can take any culture’s fairytales, and couples can mean anything from actual couples to friends to siblings. But we can all guess that the potential power couples for next year are going to be the popularized western fairytale couples.”

“Of course, being a power couple is a popularity contest and the main part of that is being recognized. What’s your gossip?” Kyungsoo’s trying to remain active in this conversation because it’s incredibly necessary information, but his mind is whirring. What will Jongin do when he has this information?

Baekhyun wrinkles his nose. “Yeah, so this is the gossip, and I say that because I’m not 100% sure that it’s true, but I heard that Sehun’s ex-girlfriend is going to be there.”

“Ahjoong? Are you serious?”

Baekhyun nods seriously. Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek. That’s not great news.

Chanyeol’s confused by the silence that follows. “Alumni always come to these kinds of parties.”

Kyungsoo sighs. “Ahjoong’s a special case. She has connections with both Sehun and Jongin, and they’re not great connections. I think they were dating around freshman year, and then some kind of debacle happened involving Jongin. I’m not sure on the details. I wasn’t too interested when it happened at the time.”

Minseok laughs. “I’ll say. You couldn’t look away form the whole Jang/Yoon affair. I’m still surprised Jongin caught your attention at the time.”

Kyungsoo ignores that last statement. “Did you know that that’s still going on even though Yoon divorced his wife?”

Minseok’s mouth drops open. “You’re fucking kidding me. That’s not an affair. That’s two adults not—“

“Focus!” Baekhyun hisses. “Ahjoong is a real problem here. Yeonsoo caught me up on the whole story: Ahjoong was dating Sehun, she got really into Jongin who was her tutor in English, breaks up with Sehun, tries to date Jongin, he’s not going to date her, she accuses him of leading her on, has a complete psychotic break in the commons, doesn’t talk to Jongin or Sehun ever again.”

“And now she’s going to come to a party where it’s going to be made completely obvious that Jongin’s going after Sehun, the two men who she thinks ruined her life.” Chanyeol finishes, now completely understanding the problem that's presented.

Minseok tsks. “It should’ve been obvious when a junior girl decided to date a freshman. I understand that cougars exist, but no cougar would be interested in a 14-year-old boy.”

Kyungsoo hums under his breath. This could be disastrous, but maybe he can also spin it positively. “How confident are you that she’s coming?”

“Yeonsoo told me.”

Minseok whistles. “Yeonsoo’s never wrong. She’s got the best sources.”

Baekhyun grimaces. “She sounded unsure of it herself though.”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “She wouldn’t have shared it unless she was pretty confident. I would treat this as if it were fact.”

“Yeah, so would I,” Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath, mind already piecing together a plan.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that you guys are the cutest? 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! It really makes me happy!


	16. Chapter 16

I.

The first thing Kyungsoo does Sunday morning when he gets back is call Jongin. It will be the one and only time he will ever instigate any type of communication.

The phone rings so long Kyungsoo thinks he’ll be getting the voicemail, but finally Jongin answers the phone. His voice is sluggish and indistinct. “ ‘lo?”

“Jongin? It’s Kyungsoo.”

A cough and a groan. “Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo would rather die than contact me first.”

Kyungsoo huffs, so it’s going to be like that. “I have something important to tell you.”

“Is it that you’re desperately in love with me and you can’t hide it any longer? Because you should know that I can’t return your feelings.”

Kyungsoo ignores him. “It’s good to know that you’re such an ass first thing in the morning. It’s important, Jongin. It could potentially hurt both you and Sehun.”

Jongin becomes a little more alert. “What is it?”

“Ahjoong’s going to be at the Spring Party.”

“Who’s Ahjoong?”

Kyungsoo muffles his surprise. How do you forget the girl who threw your backpack across the commons? “She was Sehun’s girlfriend freshman year, and then she tried to date you. Remember?”

“Oh right. The girl who dunked my backpack in the toilet.”

Kyungsoo frowns. “Did she really?” He really needs to get the full story. There’s too much conflicting information floating around.

“Yup, ruined $300 dollars worth of textbooks. School made me pay out of pocket. Bastards.”

“Harsh, but anyway, she’s going to be at the party this Saturday.”

“So?”

Kyungsoo quells his frustration. “Do you really not remember?”

“Of course I do. That backpack was expensive.”

Kyungsoo growls low in his throat. “Not that, idiot. The important part was that she was dating Sehun and then she went after you.”

“Why is that important? A lot of girls went after me freshman year.”

The sheer arrogance!

“Yeah, yeah, your whole nerd thing was super attractive. I’m sure you had girls falling all over you. Ahjoong is important because she is the only girl in common between you and Sehun, and most importantly, she blames both of you for her break down.”

Jongin’s quiet. Kyungsoo waits until it becomes clear that Jongin’s not going to speak. He brings his mouth closer to the microphone. “Jongin, did you hear me?”

Still silence. Kyungsoo tries again, louder this time.

“Jongin!”

Jongin’s broken out of whatever stupor he was in. “Huh, what?”

Kyungsoo wants to scream. This is much difficult than he could have ever anticipated. Jongin must not be a morning person. Kyungsoo should have waited till the afternoon.

“Ahjoong, she blames both you and Sehun for her break down. Get that?”

“So?”

Kyungsoo sighs. “Wow, you’re really not getting this.”

“Wow, you’re really not explaining this well,” Jongin mocks.

“Jongin, I’m trying to help you. You’re taking Sehun to the Spring Party. Taking someone to the Spring Party sends a very clear message of you wanting to date that person. Ahjoong, someone who blames you and Sehun for destroying her life, will be there to see the two men, who purportedly destroyed her life, romantically together and happy. Since she is known to be insane, there is a good chance that she will try to hurt both of you in some manner. Do you understand that?”

Jongin clicks his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, I get it. But I can’t not bring Sehun to the party. It’s how he's going to find out my intentions towards him.”

“I’m not suggesting that you not go. All I’m saying is that Ahjoong will be there, so be prepared for that.”

“Why bother telling me?”

Kyungsoo hears the teasing edge of Jongin’s voice and rolls his eyes. “I’m going to tell Sehun too. I just know how terrible this could turn out, and neither of you deserve that.”

“It’s okay, Soo. I know it’s because you love me.”

Kyungsoo leans away from his phone when he hears Jongin start to make kissing noises. “Okay. I’m hanging up now.”

Jongin laugh is cut off partway when Kyungsoo hits the end button. Immediately after, he calls Sehun. Sehun answers right away.

“Hey Kyung. What’s up?”

“I've got some bad news. Ahjoong is coming to the Spring Party.”

“You got to be fucking kidding me. Ahjoong? Out of all the girls who probably hate Jongin, it has to be the one girl who hates me too?”

Kyungsoo breathes a sigh of relief. Sehun’s so smart and clever. Of course he got it right away. “Yeah, and Jongin’s going to be asking you to go with him, so that’ll infuriate her further.”

“Well, I can’t not go.”

“I’m not suggesting that.” Why does everyone think he’s suggesting that? “You have to go, but there’s not anything you can do…yet.”

“Yet?”

“I’m working on it. The problem is that my plans work best when I can predict what’s going to happen. I don’t know Ahjoong is any sense, and she’s unpredictable. I’m not in my element. I think at the very least I can spin it so that you and Jongin come out looking like victims.”

“Well that’s probably preferable anyway. That’ll give us sympathy points from the school when we get together.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fighting for true love in the face of adversity or some other kind of bullshit. The Prince Charming persona is going to help here. He’ll definitely try to protect you, which will add to the whole romance of it. They’ll eat it up.”

“This actually sounds like exactly what you need and Jongin both needed. Are you sure you didn’t orchestrate it?”

“I wouldn’t wish for this, man. Ahjoong’s certifiably insane. I forgot about her until Baekhyun brought her up. He’s the one who told me. Yeonsoo’s the one who told him.”

“If Yeonsoo says it, so it shall be.”

Kyungsoo doesn't laugh. It's a very terrifying, true statement. “Right. Speaking of Yeonsoo, I’ve got to call her next, so I’m going to hang up now.”

"Okay, have a nice Sunday.”

“You too.”

The call ends.

Kyungsoo doesn’t call Yeonsoo right away. He needs to mentally prepare. It’s easy to call Sehun because Sehun knows everything, and it’s easy to call Jongin because he knows nothing. Yeonsoo could know everything, nothing or anything in between. So Kyungsoo has to mentally prepare.

He pours himself another cup of coffee and sits back in his chair. He’s in the kitchen because his parents decided they were going to go hiking today, and had already left very early this morning. They knew better than to ask him to come. This is his critical time for the project and it’s always the same time every year: the two weeks after Spring Break. They know their son’s schedule better than they know their own.

Kyungsoo scrolls through his social medias for a bit until he can’t stand to put it off any longer. He’s not a procrastinator.

He calls Yeonsoo, and hears it ring three times before she picks up. He shakes his head minutely. There’s no way it’s a coincidence. She deliberately waited.

“Ah, Kyungsoo! You hardly ever call.”

“Hello, Yeonsoo. You’re up early.” Kyungsoo doesn’t want to do small talk, but he feels like he should. Jumping straight into business isn’t the polite thing to do when he’s calling near strangers.

“I’m an early bird. There’s too much to do, which I imagine is how you’re feeling if you’re calling me.”

Kyungsoo better build this up slowly. “I’m good friends with Sehun, and Baekhyun told me about Ahjoong. I wanted to know the whole story between them if possible.”

“Of course. After all how can D.O. protect his friend if he doesn’t know every little ittty-bitty detail?”

Straight for jugular then. Kyungsoo thinks that he should feel surprised, but he really doesn’t. He’s always wondered; Yeonsoo has the best sources after all. So he sighs, and continues talking as if she hasn't just exposed him.

“Ahjoong is the definition of a wild card. I’ve been working on this too long to let her ruin this all just because she’s emotionally unstable. I need the whole story to make sure that I cover all of my bases.”

“What’s in it for me? There’s really nothing to stop me from exposing you and your little obsession with Jongin.”

“Go ahead. D.O. doesn’t have nearly as much authority as you think.” Kyungsoo worries his bottom lip. He has so much to lose if she exposes him.

Yeonsoo calls his bluff. “D.O. has more authority than most people think. Ms. Jang just got the fine arts department a budget increase, which is odd because not only did she never attend a school board meeting before, she’s a terrible public speaker. But suddenly lo and behold, she not only comes to a meeting, she eloquently proposes a budget and gets it.”

“She suddenly added on six dances to the Showcase and Dancehibition, and she wanted to add more to the reserve fund for the kids who can’t afford all the equipment. You need money to do that and there’s only one place to get that money.”

“Like she would ever realize that on her own. Everyone knows the dance team’s management crumbled after she was made head director. The woman’s not organized enough nor savvy enough to convince the board to funnel money from athletics to the dance team, but you are.”

“Maybe I like being helpful.”

“Maybe you like fucking over Jongin.”

Kyungsoo’s growing tired of this. Yeonsoo knows everything, but he still hasn’t gotten the information he needs. He never really cared about the reputation of D.O. He only needed him to watch Jongin.

“Tell me about Ahjoong and I’ll write you a D.O. letter for whatever you want.”

Yeonsoo makes a pleased noise. “What a gift. D.O. can get me anything.”

“Not anything,” Kyungsoo cautions. D.O. definitely had his limits.

“Can D.O. get me a skeleton key for the school?”

Kyungsoo hums as he thinks. It’s entirely possible. He’s gotten keys from time to time as D.O., but a skeleton key is different. In theory, no one at the school, administration and custodians included, has a skeleton key. It’d be a huge issue if someone had one key to open every door. But this is in theory.

Kyungsoo’s heard rumors, as Yeonsoo has, about a singular skeleton key. It’s rumored to be passed down to a random student each year from a senior to a junior. It just so happens that the key is passed down at the Spring Party. So whoever has the key right now is a senior, and Kyungsoo thinks he knows who it is.

Way back in October, the baseball team had broken into the school in the middle of the night and covered the place in jack-o-lanterns and cobwebs to decorate for Halloween. A harmless prank, but administration had been furious. They never figured out who did it, but at the annual Halloween party, a drunk Junho had bragged about it to Kyungsoo.

It shouldn’t be too hard to get it from Junho. A simple D.O. letter threatening to tell administration about the skeleton key should suffice.

“Yeah, I can get you the key.”

Yeonsoo practically purrs in delight. “Great. Then I’ll tell you the story. It’s a doozy. As we all know, Sehun is very attractive now, but he was a pimply, awkward thing when he was a freshman. Now Ahjoong saw potential in him. She was always very disappointed with guys her own age, but a freshman boy was ideal. She could mold him into what she wanted in a man. It didn’t take a lot of convincing on Sehun’s part. An attractive older woman was interested in him, what else could he do but say yes? They begin to date, and she starts to change him into the man she wants. But then Jongin comes in.

‘Jongin was pretending to be a nerd, as you know, and that of course entails being smart grade-wise. When Jongin was a freshman, he wrote the best essays. No one could write a better persuasive essay than him, so Ahjoong was assigned to him to learn how to write better essays. Now the nerd stereotype requires that he be soft-spoken, tender-hearted, and shy. Now these three traits together can lead some to believe what?”

Kyungsoo can’t believe she’s dragging this out. He never took her to be dramatic, but he guesses that someone who’s the head of the gossips should be dramatic. And Yeonsoo never does anything without reason, so Kyungsoo thinks it through, and then he gets it.

“Malleable. He comes off as more malleable, so she thinks she can more easily create the man she wants with Jongin.”

Yeonsoo hums happily. “Exactly, and he’s just as attractive if not more so than Sehun. She becomes interested in Jongin as a result. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see that the nerd thing was an act, so she had no idea that Jongin was decidedly not what he claimed to be. Regardless of the fact that Jongin didn’t display the awkwardness shared by most teenage boys, she didn't see it because she was blinded by her own ambitions. Now I don’t know this for sure, but I think Jongin most likely saw through her. He's a smart cookie.

‘While she was still dating Sehun, she very obviously began to go after Jongin. Jongin kept refusing her. He was very clearly becoming close with Luna. Ahjoong wasn’t taking no for an answer. She even deliberately started doing poorly on her essays so Jongin would have to spend more time with her. And then we fast forward to the Spring Party.

‘Sehun, by this time, knew something was up. He tells her that he won’t go to the party. She ends up going alone to the party only to find out that Jongin was taking Luna, knowing full well what that meant. She leaves the party. No one hears anything from her until Monday morning.

‘Monday morning 8:30am, the entire school is on the commons. Jongin and Sehun included. Jongin is shyly holding hands with Luna. They’re not dating, but it’s close enough. Ahjoong comes in quietly until she’s in front of Jongin and Luna. She starts loudly accusing Jongin of leading her on and playing with her feelings. Calls him a bastard, you know, the works. No one believes her because she’s still dating Sehun, and she’s quite clearly out of her mind.

‘Jongin tries to get Luna out of there, but the moment he turns, Ahjoong latches onto his backpack and pulls. Jongin’s first priority is to get out of there, so he just lets it slide off of his back. Ahjoong enraged, throws the backpack across the commons. Amazingly, it hits no one, but I doubt she notices because she’s just raving like a lunatic at this point. By this point, the teachers know what’s up and they come and corral her away and then it’s over.

‘The aftermath is that everyone makes fun of Sehun for what his now ex-girlfriend did. He blames Jongin for this because he’s the one who made Ahjoong act that way. Don’t question that too much, Sehun was only 14 and Ahjoong was rather manipulative. So he takes Jongin’s bag and shoves it in the toilet. And that's where the main story ends. I'm sure you know what kind of ripples happened after that.”

Kyungsoo’s amazed he missed something like this. This is the exact kind of thing his freshman self would have salivated over. But this is great. This is the exact kind of information he needed to make a plan.

“Wow, I didn’t know half of that.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can learn when you’re not obsessed with the principal/teacher affair.” Yeonsoo’s voice isn’t malicious, only teasing.

Kyungsoo laughs. “Yeah, they’re still going at it you know.”

“Well then it’s not an affair anymore, it’s two adults afraid of commitment.”

Kyungsoo hums in agreement before he sobers up. There’s one last thing he needs to make sure of. “You’re not going to tell anyone about me being D.O. are you?”

“I’m not like you, Kyungsoo. I truly am only an observer. I let things play out without interefering.”

There’s something about what Yeonsoo’s said that really irritates Kyungsoo, but he’s too busy thinking of a plan to pinpoint what it is.

“Thanks, Yeonsoo. I’ll get you the skeleton key.”

“No problem, Kyungsoo. Take care.”

“Take care.”

Yeonsoo ends the phone call before Kyungsoo even has the chance to take it away from his ear. He sets the phone down, and rubs his neck. He groans.

It’s been a long morning.

 

II.

When the sophomore football players had revealed the theme for the Spring Party, Sehun wanted to cry. “A fairytale ending, huh? How fitting.”

The irony isn’t lost on him, but he wishes it were. It annoys him greatly that everything seems to revolve around this game between Kyungsoo and Jongin. Everything seemed so simple when the semester began. And then everything changed when Kyungsoo  approached him.

“I should’ve said no,” he mutters under his breath.

He’s not usually so annoyed with the plan. Sometimes he even finds part of it fun. He always liked playing ‘spies’ when he was a kid, and there are parts of this that remind him of the game, but right now all he can think of are the negatives.

It’s Wednesday, and according to Kyungsoo, Jongin should be presenting him with the pen and asking him to the party today. So Sehun’s positioned himself at the lunch table where he used to sit with Jongin and Chanyeol in hopes that Jongin will find him and get it over with. But it’s been two hours and Jongin hasn’t shown up yet.

Sehun’s going to give him another ten minutes before he bails. He already skipped English to go to A lunch in case Jongin decided to show up, but he can’t skip math for C lunch since Jongin’s in that class. Jongin might choose to ask him to the party in math, but Sehun doesn’t think he will. It’s not really romantic, but Sehun’s not even really sure he knows what that means anymore.

With three minutes to spare, Jongin leisurely strolls in and smiles broadly at Sehun. He comes over to Sehun and begins to talk. His smile and way of talking are too bright for Sehun to really listen. He gets the gist of what Jongin’s saying.

Jongin’s been looking for Sehun everywhere and he has something really important to ask. And then there’s the pen being held in front of him, his name neatly engraved on it. Jongin’s talking again, but this time about the party. And then Jongin ends his soliquy with a question.

With the most natural smile, he can muster, Sehun makes sure to sweetly reply, “I’d love to.”

Jongin’s smiling broadly and talking excitedly, but all Sehun can do is wonder how he managed to make Jongin believe him. W _hen did I become so good at lying?_

The party is in three days.


	17. Chapter 17

I.

In the end, it’s Sehun who gives Kyungsoo what he needs to carry out the plan.

Johnny is a sophomore on the swim team, and one of Sehun’s closest friends. The important thing about him though, is that he’s young and thus very malleable.

“You want me to do what?”

“I need you to distract Ahjoong during the party.”

“Why?”

While Kyungsoo can appreciate people whose first instinct is to be suspicious, this is a bit much. He really just needs someone who won’t question him right now. Too many people seem to know he’s D.O. right now, and he’s not looking to add to that number.

“You’re Sehun’s friend, right? Don’t you want him to be happy? Ahjoong’s going to try and ruin his date with Jongin, and it’ll just be a whole big mess.”

“What if I want her to ruin Sehun’s date with Jongin?”

“Why would you want that?”

Johnny just gives him an incredulous look. “Are you serious? Jongin’s super shady. Have you met him? He’s super polite. No one’s that polite. He’s hiding something.”

Kyungsoo knows exactly what Johnny talking about, but he can't give that away. “It’s not really up to you, is it? Sehun seems pretty happy when they’re together, right?”

Johnny stares at him for a second. “Okay, yeah sure, I guess I'll help. What am I doing to distract this girl?”

“I need you to talk to her and just act super unsure of yourself. Make it really obvious that you’re speaking to please her.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to stare at him. This kid asks a lot of questions, doesn’t he? “I’m a terrible actor.”

Johnny narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Is that really the only reason? Why not ask one of your friends to do it?”

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek. He had really hoped he wouldn’t have to say the real reason. “None of us are young enough.”

Johnny chokes. “Excuse me?”

“None of us are young enough.”

It’s a tense silence that follows with Johnny staring at him in disbelief while Kyungsoo forces himself to make eye contact even though he’d rather be doing anything but. He knows what he said. He knows what he implied.

“Do you hear what you’re saying?”

“I am very aware of what I just said,” Kyungsoo snaps back. He knows this sounds terrible. “But I don’t think it’s pedophilic in nature. I think, like most people, she associates young guys and insecurity. She wants to make you into her perfect man, so she looks for insecurity.”

“You really want to argue that what you just said isn’t a component of pedophilia?”

Kyungsoo does not want to argue that. “I won’t let her touch you.”

Johnny doesn’t look like he believes Kyungsoo, which is understandable. Kyungsoo doesn’t really look like he could stop a duck much less a crazy girl.

“This is a tall order, you know.”

“I’m not asking you to date her. I just need you to distract her for a couple of hours.”

 “You realize the Spring Party goes until dawn, right? That’s more than a couple of hours.”

Kyungsoo’s aware, but he’s never had to stay long. Jongin and his date usually clock out around midnight so they can take a romantic moonlit walk. Kyungsoo never stays longer than that because, usually, he’s wanted to leave since 10.

“I’ll get them to leave early. Sehun doesn’t even like parties that much. It shouldn’t be too hard. Do it for Sehun.”

Johnny doesn’t look like he wants to particularly do it for Sehun, but eventually he agrees on one condition.

“You gotta get them out of the party before midnight because I’m not working past that. I have my own plans for the Spring Party that don’t involve hitting on some psycho.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “No problem. Consider it done.”

II.

Kyungsoo makes sure that they’re the first ones to the party. He needs to get a feel for the layout of the house. Minseok didn’t complain because it meant he got first pick of the alcohol. Baekhyun and Chanyeol also want to get a feel for the layout of the house. Obviously it’s for different reasons since Baekhyun and Chanyeol are the biggest perverts Kyungsoo’s ever met.

The sophomores decorating the house seem to briefly consider kicking them out, but one look at Kyungsoo’s face and they decide to let it go. Kyungsoo’s glad he decided not to wear his glasses.

It only takes him ten minutes to get the layout of the house. It’s huge and consists of two floors. There’s the living room, a half-bathroom, kitchen and what looks to be the parents bedroom on the first floor. On the second floor two more bathrooms, two kids’ bedrooms, and a gameroom. Then of course, a patio and pool in the backyard, which is where a majority of the kids will be for the evening. It promises to be the first warm night of the season. How fortuitous.

The tentative plan is to somehow avoid having Ahjoong and then Sehun and Jongin not see each other. If he can get Johnny to keep Ahjoong distracted on the patio while he keeps Sehun and Jongin in the gameroom, it should work out that none of them will see each other. It’s the plan most likely to fail because Ahjoong is most likely going to seek out either Jongin or Sehun and then blow up when she finds them together. Kyungsoo thinks anyway; he's not really sure why Ahjoong's coming to a high school party. At the same time, why else would an alum come to a high school party if not to harass her ex and the boy who rejected her?

Even if that plan somehow does work out, and the night ends without incidence, it’ll be neutral. There’s really no pros or cons to ending it that way. It’ll be like there was never a problem. It’s not exactly what Kyungsoo wants.

What Kyungsoo wants to happen is for Ahjoong to do the confrontation and then have Jongin stand up for Sehun. If this happens Jongin will establish himself as the true Prince Charming and the school’s gossip mill will spread it all over the school by Monday. It’s an A+ scenario for Jongin. It becomes an A+ scenario for Kyungsoo if Johnny will come up to Kyungsoo to apologize for letting Ahjoong get away in front of Jongin. Kyungsoo hopes that will dispel any lingering suspicions Jongin has about him if he appears helpful.

This relies on Ahjoong being able to slip away from Johnny, and given Johnny’s enthusiasm for the plan, Kyungsoo’s feeling pretty confident that this will go well.

Once Kyungsoo’s explored the house, he finds Minseok in the kitchen pouring what is most likely his second drink of the night. It’s a little bit of coke and a whole lot of rum. When he sees Kyungsoo he offers him the cup.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “No thanks, too much sugar. I’m just going to get some water.”

“And tell people it’s vodka.”

“I don’t like being peer-pressured.”

“You’ve never been peer-pressured in your life. You’d rather die.”

Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose as he tries to find a clean cup. It’s only 9:30. Why is everything already so dirty?

“I don’t want them to waste my time by trying.”

Minseok rolls his eyes and turns slightly so that he’s facing the front door and leans back against the counter. People are slowly starting to trickle in. Minseok stifles a laugh at the number of Cinderella and Prince Charming costumes he sees. So much for standing out.

Kyungsoo copies Minseok’s movements. He wants to know exactly when Jongin, Sehun and Ahjoong get here. He and Minseok are silent except for the occasional comment on the couples coming in.

“Ah, Joongi and Jimin came together. They’ve been together for three years now. Definitely the most stable power couple to emerge tonight.”

Minseok shakes his head. “And the most predictable. Look behind them. Minhee and Taehyung came together dressed like Shang and Mulan. I didn’t think he would ask her. He’s such a chicken.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “It’s surprising Taehyung finally got the guts to ask her out, but it’s your most clichéd couple ever. Minhee’s already been picked to cheer captain next year and Taehyung’s been our best football player since he was a freshman. Case in point Jongin pulled the popular jock-head cheerleader stunt first semester during football season.”

Minseok wrinkles his nose. “I guess. You know, I was always curious how Jongin was going to maintain the popular jock persona if you hadn’t interceded?”

Kyungsoo cocks his head and thinks about it before shaking his head. “Best guess is he probably would’ve been able to ride the whole football thing all year. He wouldn’t have tried another sport. Dance is too important for him.”

Minseok laughs. “Who would've thought that even Jongin has passions he won't give up for the sake of the game?”

Kyungsoo hums in acknowledgment, but he’s not really listening because Jongin and Sehun are finally here.

Predictably Jongin is dressed like Prince Charming and Sehun is…also dressed as Prince Charming?

Kyungsoo nudges Minseok and gestures with his head to Jongin and Sehun. “What’s up with them?”

“It looks like they’ve come to sweep single girls off of their feet rather than each other, but we can find out. Hey! Prince Charming X2 get over here!”

Jongin and Sehun both look up at the call. They both smile widely and make their way over.

“They’re way too happy,” Minseok mumbles into his cup. Kyungsoo nudges him to be quiet. Minseok always get grumpy when he drinks.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Sehun asks.

Kyungsoo and Minseok look at each other. They hadn’t tried very hard with their costumes. They had donned vest and cravats and called it a day.

“Brothers Grimm,” Minseok supplies.

“Oh! You wrote down most of the fairytales here then.”

Kyungsoo looks around. For the first time he sees all the Cinderellas. “Yeah, I guess. Huh, I thought there would've been more variety.”

“Which one’s Wilhelm and which one’s Jacob?” It’s Jongin who asks this, and it comes as a bit of a surprise. Usually Jongin’s really good at playing the Prince Charming role when Sehun’s around, but he’s not even trying right now. Jongin didn’t even say hello to them when they first walked up. Kyungsoo notices the dark circles under Jongin’s eyes and wonders if he’s just tired. Dancehibition is coming up soon.

Minseok waves a hand flippantly. “Take your pick.”

Jongin seems to take the request seriously and looks at both of them before pointing to Kyungsoo. “You’re Wilhelm,” he moves to Minseok, “and you’re Jacob.”

“Great, now that we’ve got that established, what’s up with the matching costumes?”

Sehun grins delightedly. “We’re the two princes from _Into the Woods_. I’m Rapunzel’s Prince and Jongin’s Cinderella’s Prince.”

“I hope they realize that you’re only charming and not sincere,” Kyungsoo tries to joke. It falls flat. Wrong crowd apparently.

“What made you do the Grimm Brothers?” Jongin asks.

Kyungsoo shrugs and lies, “It was Minseok’s idea.”

Sehun and Jongin look to Minseok for an answer.

Minseok scowls. Kyungsoo can tell that the alcohol's taken effect. Minseok's incredibly surly. “I’m too gay to be part of a het couple.” And then he walks off.

“Is he going to be okay?”

Kyungsoo nods. “Min likes to be alone when he drinks. He’ll be fine.”

Now that the small talk’s over, Kyungsoo brings it to the business at hand. “Hey, hey, hey, so I think the simplest way of keeping Ahjoong away is if she never sees you. That would mean you’d have to stay in the gameroom all night.”

Both Jongin and Sehun grimace. The gameroom is quickly going to become the make out room while the backyard and living room is where all the dancing and alcohol is going to be. Kyungsoo knows it’s not ideal.

“Can we switch that? I'd rather be in the backyard all night than in the gameroom.” Sehun’s already looking longingly at the backyard as he speaks.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “There’s an entrance to the backyard, and the farther someone parks from the house, the more likely they’re going to come in through the backyard.”

“But we can’t stay in the gameroom all night either. It’s going to get hot and you know,” Jongin says, looking slightly embarrassed. Kyungsoo’s certain it’s an act because no one’s that embarrassed about making out. But it isn’t princely to talk about something so risqué.

Kyungsoo considers the complaint though. Jongin’s right. That gameroom only has one window and even if it were to be open, the presence of 50+ teenagers is going to make that room steamy in more ways than one. Every kid is going to walk out of that room at one point to get some fresh air.

And that’s when Kyungsoo figures out how he can more accurately orchestrate his dream scenario.

The kitchen is essentially a box within a box. It has two entrances about three feet wide in opposite corners and one window over the kitchen sink that looks out into the living room. Now on one side of the living room is floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the backyard, and to the right of the window wall is a hallway leading to the parents’ bedroom and the half-bathroom. The beginning of that hallway is marked by the staircase. It is entirely possible to get up to the second floor without seeing anyone in the kitchen.

“Stay over in that corner until I tell you it’s okay, and then it should be okay to move to the backyard.” Kyungsoo points to the small breakfast nook in the adjacent corner.

Sehun’s all on board, but Jongin looks a little iffy. To be fair, for people to know that’s he’s going after Sehun, people actually have to see him with Sehun. So asking him to go sit in the corner for an unidentified amount of time is not great to say the least. Kyungsoo tries to reassure him, “If it goes past an hour, I’ll think of something else.”

Jongin reluctantly agrees and let’s Sehun lead him to the breakfast nook. Kyungsoo watches them get situated. Once they looked like they’ve settled in, he takes off. He’s got to find Johnny.

Johnny isn’t hard to find because in a room of colorful costumes, an all-black outfit stands out. Kyungsoo just has to know.

“What are you supposed to be?”

“Death. Everyone knows the true OTP is Death and Fairytales.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Johnny gives him a look that clearly says he’s stupid. “Name one fairytale that doesn’t have someone dying in it.”

Kyungsoo tries. He really tries, but considering he’s one of the Grimm brothers, he fails. So he moves on. “I’ve got a change of plans.”

Johnny sighs like it’s the greatest inconvenience he’s ever experienced. “What now?”

Kyungsoo pokes his tongue against his cheek and gives Johnny a long, hard look. How is Sehun friends with a kid like this?

“Did you just get here?”

“Probably like five minutes ago. Why?”

“What’s the street look like? Are there a lot of cars?”

“Oh yeah, I came with friends and we parked at the park a couple blocks down. Ended up coming through the backyard, which was a plus since I didn’t have to deal with those idiot football players.”

“Those idiots are your classmates.”

Johnny shrugs and takes a sip of his drink. “I don’t need them.”

Kyungsoo can’t win here. “Anyway I need you to wait in the backyard until Ahjoong comes and then talk to her until you can convince her to come up to the gameroom with you. The most important thing is that you keep her out of the kitchen.”

“That’s a lot of work you’re asking of me…”

“I have no money.”

Johnny sighs again. “Alright, I’ll do it out of the kindness of my heart.”

“How selfless of you.”

Johnny picks up on the sarcasm and flips him off before walking away. Kyungsoo sighs. It’s only 10:00pm.

III.

By 10:30, Jongin’s getting antsy. Since this is the party of the semester, no one really arrives late. He needs for Sehun and him to be seen together. It doesn’t really matter that he’s graduating in two months. It’s the principal of the thing really.

To be fair, he had started early with Sooyoung so he wouldn’t have to rely on this party, but well, everyone knows how that went.

“It’s getting kind of late. Do you really think Ahjoong will come?”

Sehun takes a sip of his drink and thinks about it. “Yeah, Kyungsoo said he got that information from Yeonsoo, and she’s never really wrong.”

Hearing Kyungsoo’s name bothers Jongin extremely and makes him want to argue. “But it’s 10:30. No one comes late to this party.”

Sehun gives him an odd look. Jongin knows he’s not usually so pushy, but he hopes Sehun passes it off as Jongin being more comfortable with him. “Ahjoong’s an alum. She has no need to be here on time like us. Just give it more time. Kyungsoo’s not going to leave us here all night.”

Maybe it’s because Jongin’s just started paying attention, but does Sehun usually talk so much about Kyungsoo, because it really seems like he’s talking about Kyungsoo a lot.

Two cold bottles of beer are placed on the table in front of them. Jongin looks up to see the man of the hour.

“Hey, sorry about the wait, guys, but someone just told me that they spotted Ahjoong coming up. I don’t think you’ll have to stay here much longer. Here have some beer while you wait.” And just like that Kyungsoo’s out of the room again to presumably steer Ahjoong away from the kitchen.

“Ah, he’s so quick. But at least he brought us beer. I guess it’s really boring for you since all of the dancing’s outside.”

Jongin brings all of his focus back to Sehun. “It’s good though. I like spending time with you. There’ll be time to dance later.”

There’s already a red flush on Sehun’s cheeks from the alcohol, but Jongin likes to think he sees it grow a little darker when he speaks. He lets himself bask in the moment he’s created.

They sit there for another 10 minutes talking about Dancehibition and Jongin’s practice schedule. It’s in two weeks, and Jongin’s got practice until late every night. But Jongin makes it clear he wants to see Sehun as much as possible during that time even if it’s only for a few minutes.

And then Kyungsoo’s back. He slides into the kitchen and kneels by the table. Jongin bites back everything he wants to say to Kyungsoo and just lets Kyungsoo say what he needs to.

“So Ahjoong’s upstairs in the gameroom, and the only window in there faces out onto the front lawn. So you guys should be fine in the backyard. I’m sorry for the wait.”

“It’s not your fault, Kyung. Thanks for looking out for us. Do you want to go, Jongin?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jongin gets up and sidesteps Kyungsoo to follow Sehun. Before they step out of the kitchen, Jongin takes a chance to glance back at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows are furrowed, his mouth is scrunched over to one side and he’s looking out the kitchen window into the living room. He’s obviously thinking about something, which puts Jongin on the defensive. For once he’s one step ahead instead of being two steps behind, and he intends to keep it that way.

When they get to the patio, Jongin inserts Sehun and himself into as many group conversations as possible. He hits all the major groups of the hierarchy: the jocks and cheerleaders, the queen bees, and the stoners. Sehun seems to understand what he’s doing, but he accepts it all with an amused smile.

Across the pool, Jongin makes eye contact with Taemin, who raises his drink to him together with Sehun. Jongin returns the gesture.

It’s going picture perfect until Jongin hears a squawk of anger behind him.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who it is.

Sehun and Jongin both turn around at the same time. Ahjoong hasn’t changed much since their freshman year. She’s still beautiful and modelesque. Honestly Sehun should have known she was too good to be true. No sane girl that beautiful would be interested in a freshman who didn’t understand the basics of personal hygiene.

Ahjoong looks and sounds livid. The red solo cup in her hand is seconds away from being crushed. She has an ugly sneer on her face as she takes in Sehun and Jongin standing much closer than necessary in their matching costumes.

“So that’s how it is, is it? You both were pulling a prank on me.” Everyone in the immediate vicinity freezes. Everyone has heard rumors of the incident, so everyone vaguely knows who Ahjoong is, but no one knows what she’s talking about. No one’s going to ask though, so they just wait, mildly terrified, for what she’ll say next.

“You both were fucking all along, weren’t you? Sehun seduced me as a game and then you tried to steal me away from him, or so I thought! Really you both were just laughing at Poor Ahjoong—“ Ah, she’s talking in about herself in the 3rd-person, that can’t be a good sign. “—And playing with her poor heart and then smashing it to pieces. Luna was just as much a victim, wasn’t she? Well, now I’m onto your tricks and I’ll tell every girl about what you really are: lying cheating scumbags!”

Jongin’s prepared for what happens next. While Ahjoong was talking, he just focused on the drink in her hands. The speech was just the wind-up; the throw will be the main event.

The moment Jongin sees Ahjoong’s hand move, he slides in front of Sehun and closes his eyes. Jongin feels the entire sticky concoction of rum and coke soak through his costume.

It’s chaos moments after the throw, people are shouting, Jongin, afraid to open his eyes and get rum in them, vaguely hears Ahjoong protests as some of the football guys begin to haul her away. Where were they when Ahjoong started talking?

Someone starts wiping at his face to get rid of the worst of the mess. When Jongin’s able to open his eyes, he sees Sehun in front of him, clearly worried. He’s rambling.

“Shit, shit, shit! Man, I didn’t expect her to throw her drink at you. Shit! I just thought she’d shout at us for a bit. Damn it! I’m so sorry, but you didn’t need to jump in front of me. I’m so sorry! Didn’t you say this was a rental? Shit! I’m so sorry! I’ll pay for your dry-cleaning. Shit!”

Jongin pats Sehun’s arms. “It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s not your fault. Ahjoong’s crazy. Don’t worry about it. It was just a drink. I’m fine.”

Sehun still looks worried, and it’s an emotion mirrored on everyone’s face as they crowd around him. Jongin sees Kyungsoo push through the crowd. He looks freaked.

“I’m so sorry! I should’ve been watching! I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault she’s crazy,” Jongin says even though he knows somehow it is. It's probably not that much of a stretch to say that it's all Kyungsoo's fault.

Next to Kyungsoo, some kid all in black appears. He looks really stressed out and the look only amplifies when he sees how wet Jongin is. “Shit! She actually threw it on you! Shit, man! I’m sorry! I tried to keep her in the gameroom, but she insisted on coming down! I should’ve tried harder. I didn’t know she would have a drink. Man, I’m so sorry!”

It goes on like this for a few minutes with people saying the same thing over and over again in slightly different words. Jongin can feel his clothes sticking to his skin uncomfortably so he decides that it’s time to bow out and maybe ask Sehun to take a walk with him.

“Hey, you want to get out of here, and maybe go on a walk? It’s kind of stifling, and the party’s kind of ruined for me.” Jongin needlessly gestures to his stained costume.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Let’s go.” Sehun looks like a bobble head with how many times he nods.

The crowd parts like the red sea for them, whether out of concern for them or to avoid touching Jongin’s sticky clothing, Jongin doesn’t know, but he doesn’t care. He’s done what he’s came here for, but there is still one thing ne needs to check.

He taps Sehun on the shoulder, “Hey, I’ve got to go tell Taemin I’m heading out. Will you wait for me?”

Sehun agrees instantly.

Jongin makes his way over to Taemin, who is conveniently right next to the drink table, but he doesn’t talk to Taemin. He gestures to the sophomore who’s playing bartender. The sophomore comes over to him with a red solo cup full of rum and coke. Jongin stops him from handing it over. He’s gotten his fill of alcohol for the evening. Instead he gestures for the kid to lean over.

“Hey, you just saw what happened, right?”

The sophomore nods.

“Did you hand her a red solo cup?”

The sophomore shakes his head.

“Did you see who did?”

The kid tilts his head to think about it. “I don’t know his name, but he was short, scary-looking guy wearing a vest and some kind of bandanna around his neck.”

Jongin nods his head and thanks the kid. As he turns away, he can't help but let out a harsh laugh.

The Devil works hard, but D.O. works harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of you guys guessed it, Kyungsoo gave himself away by pointing out the nerd persona to Jongin. What's Jongin going to do? 
> 
> There was so much build-up for Ahjoong and she appeared for less than 100 words.
> 
> Also it's generally believed that Wilhelm was the one who wrote and edited the fairytales for the Grimm Brother. So that was Jongin subtly calling out Kyungsoo.
> 
> Thank you for reading! You guys are so cute!


	18. Chapter 18

I.

It’s 7am. Kyungsoo wants that noted. It is 7am, the morning after the party. Kyungsoo wants it noted that he stayed up until 4am drinking with Minseok because arranging everything with Ahjoong was pretty damn stressful. Kyungsoo wants it noted that that means he only slept for 3 hours. And finally he wants it noted that he is incredibly hungover when his mother wakes him up to tell him that Jongin is here.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks, voice muffled because his face is shoved into the pillow. His eyes are throbbing and his stomach is rolling.

“Jongin’s here,” his mother repeats. Her voice is softer now. She’s most likely guessed why Kyungsoo’s refusing to move his head from his pillow.

“It’s way too early for anything like that.” Kyungsoo argues.

“But he’s here anyway.” Even Mrs. Do sounds a little confused as to Jongin’s early appearance, but she doesn’t question it. It comes with the territory of her son’s project.

“Send him away,” Kyungsoo groans. He can’t tell if he’s tasting the pillow or if his mouth is really just that dry.

“He already explained that this is the only time he can meet. Something about dancing and an exhibition. But I would hurry. He’s just sitting with your dad downstairs, and you know your dad likes to brag about you. So lets take a second to consider what your dad might brag about to Jongin.”

To be fair, Kyungsoo’s not at his best right now, so it takes him a few seconds for him to shoot out of bed and then promptly fall to the floor because of pain. He groans after a particularly vicious stab of pain flashes through his head.

Mrs. Do laughs as her son crumples. “Consider this your punishment for underage drinking, and to make sure your sufficiently punished, I took your ibuprofen out of your medicine cabinet and I moved it downstairs.”

“Mom!”

Mrs. Do moves towards the door. “Sorry, Soo, can’t hear you. I’m going to go downstairs. Be quick.”

Kyungsoo lets himself stayed curled up on the floor for another minute before he hauls himself up and gingerly hobbles to the bathroom. His glasses are on the counter where he left them last night. After putting them on, he gets to see the damage. His eyes are bloodshot and the bags under them are purple, his hair’s sticking out in every direction, and there’s dry drool at the corner of his mouth.

Kyungsoo considers himself for a moment longer before shrugging and turning on the faucet. He splashes his face with water and brushes his teeth. When he’s done, he opens his medicine cabinet to make sure his mom isn’t pulling a fast one. She is not, so Kyungsoo really is going to have to go downstairs to get medicine.

It’s a slow trip down the stairs with every step sending his stomach churning. When he’s finally down the stairs, he’s met with obnoxious laughter. It can only be Jongin because neither of his parents laugh; his mom titters and his dad chuckles. Jongin, on the other hand, has a full-blown howl that ends in a snort followed by a thud as he slaps the table. It is the single most annoying thing Hungover Kyungsoo has ever heard in his life.

“Look who decided to sleep in,” Jongin goads from the kitchen table where he’s being entirely too chummy with Kyungsoo’s parents. Kyungsoo’s parents titter and chuckle, respectively.

Kyungsoo ignores him and goes to find the ibuprofen. It’s not where the rest of the medication is. He shoots his mother a look.

Mrs. Do shrugs. “I didn’t say where downstairs.” Jongin laughs so hard that it just turns into a series of snorts.

Kyungsoo sighs heavily and goes to pour himself a cup of coffee. He might as well struggle through this without ibuprofen. At least the coffee serves to take the edge off.

With his hangover taken care of, Kyungsoo turns around and survey the battleground. His parents are looking at him, entirely too amused with the situation at hand. Jongin shares a similar look as Kyungsoo’s parents, but he seems to take even more glee in the fact that Kyungsoo looks incredibly hungover. It can’t help that Kyungsoo’s wearing the most threadbare shirt and pajama bottoms that he owns.

Kyungsoo doesn’t want Jongin around his parents anymore, but he can’t bring him up to his room. All of his D.O. stuff is still in there and he has no energy to run up and hide it.

“We’re going to go hang out on the porch.” Kyungsoo decides, and starts moving in that direction. He gives both of his parents a look before moving to Jongin who receives a more withering stare. “Come on. I’ve got homework to do, so we’ve got to do this quick.”

Jongin just grins when he stands up. He follows after Kyungsoo, but not without a sunny goodbye. “It was nice to see you again, Sua, Jaesoo.”

Kyungsoo hears his mother titter behind him. Kyungsoo just takes another drag of his coffee. It’s too early for this.

Kyungsoo doesn’t bother waiting for Jongin. He goes outside and leans back on the steps just like he did when Jongin first came to visit. Jongin takes a seat next to him, close enough so that their elbows touch. Kyungsoo’s not going to move or talk first. He’s in control here.

He takes another sip of coffee. His eyes throb in his skull.

“I never got to say thank you for last night.”

“You shouldn’t. She still found you.” Kyungsoo really hopes that Jongin didn’t come here at 7 in the morning just for that.

“But you still tried,” Jongin argues. “You tried really hard, and you got that emo kid involved to try and help. You went to a lot of effort. It was really kind of you.”

Kyungsoo side-eyes him. “Is this really all you came here for?” Jongin’s hardly so sincere when they hang out, and Kyungsoo's not kidding about being pissed if this is all Jongin came for.

“I just wanted to know why.”

“Why?” Kyungsoo echoes.

“Yeah. Why help me and Sehun that much?”

There’s a very easy answer for that, and since it’s a super easy answer that means Kyungsoo’s going to have to lie.

“Sehun really likes you, and you seem genuinely interested in him. In high school, I think a lot of couples are based on lust or the need to be appreciated, but you seem to be putting Sehun first instead of yourself. I think it really shows that you’re serious about him, and I think I should try and help a relationship like that.”

“Is that it?” The look on Jongin’s face is indecipherable. Kyungsoo supposes that it’s warranted. He’s not usually so sappy.

“I mean Sehun’s my friend and I want him to be happy. You seem to make him happy. And I mean, you’re not the worst person I’ve ever met, so you probably deserve some kind of happiness.”

Jongin’s got that teasing grin on his face. “Are you saying that we’re friends?”

“You say it all the time, don’t you?” Kyungsoo shoots back. In a bastardized sense, he and Jongin are friends, but not real friends in the true sense, and because of that, Kyungsoo doesn't feel comfortable admitting to it.

“Yeah, but I’d never thought you’d actually think it.” Jongin trails off as he falls into a train of thought.

Kyungsoo finishes off the last of his coffee and looks over at Jongin. Jongin’s looking down at his sneakers, mindlessly tapping them against each other as he thinks. Kyungsoo’s very confused by this turn of events. Jongin’s all about being smug and smarmy when they hang out. He’s not usually reflective.

Very briefly, Kyungsoo considers that maybe Jongin’s been made aware of who he is, but he dismisses it just as quickly. If Jongin were to know, he’d be smug and smarmy and cocky. There’s no way he’d be this reflective if he knew.

Kyungsoo’s alarmed when Jongin suddenly turns to look at him. Kyungsoo stays completely still while Jongin very clearly analyzes his face. When Jongin’s done, he stare Kyungsoo directly in the eye. Kyungsoo doesn’t look away. He can’t. It’s a power play. It’s always a power play with Jongin.

And just like that it’s over. Jongin smiles easily at him and reaches out a hand to ruffle his hair. “Yeah, we’re good friends.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother batting Jongin’s hand away. He just turns to face front and looks out over the front yard.

What the fuck was that?

II.

“Hey, did you finish your precal homework?” Kyungsoo asks. He’s at his desk working on an English essay. It’s later in the day and thankfully his headache subsided about two hours after Jongin left.

“Yeah finished it this morning. I’m working on my chem now. Have you done the problem set yet?”

Kyungsoo puts his phone on speaker and sets it next to his laptop, so he can rifle through his binder. He triumphantly pulls out a sheet. “Ah yeah, here it is. I did it yesterday before the party. Do you want me to send a pic of it?”

Minseok’s voice sounds incredibly tinny on speakerphone. “Nah, I’ll try to do it first, and we can compare answers tomorrow. Did Baekhyun text you about his audition yet?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head as he talks. “Nah, but Yeol called me while he was in the car with Baek, and bragged about how good he did, so I think it’s the same result. It sounds like Baek’ll get admission as well as the scholarship. That’s good because Yeol’s already been accepted, right?”

There’s a muffled thump on Minseok’s end. “Yeah, so those two lovestruck idiots will be together, and then you and I will be together.”

Kyungsoo hums. “Our parents won’t be surprised. The moment we both came out as gay, they started planning our wedding. ”

“Yeah, and then you broke my dad’s model plane.”

Kyungsoo looks at the phone angrily. “That wasn’t my fault. You were the one who threw the ball.”

“You had the bat!”

“It was your idea to play baseball in the house!”

“The definition of your personality is contrary. Why the fuck did you go along with my idea?!”

“I wanted to be supportive!”

“Of stupidity?!?”

Kyungsoo calms down at that because he’s not going to fall for that and he’s not going to win. He’s never won an argument with Minseok and he’s accepted that he never will. The best he can do is abort any further attempts towards an argument.

“Hey, can you do me a favor tomorrow?”

Minseok easily drops the argument. “Yeah, sure. What do you need me to do?”

Kyungsoo subconsciously touches the blank envelope on his desk. “I’ve got a D.O. letter that I need you to put in Junho’s locker.”

“What did that poor kid do to you other than flirt?”

Kyungsoo laughs. “It’s not on my behalf. He’s got something that Yeonsoo wants, and I promised I’d get it for her in exchange for information and not telling people that I was D.O.”

Minseok makes a pleased sound. “I knew she knew. Yeol owes me a dildo. Haha! But yeah, I’ll do it. He’s like two lockers down.”

Kyungsoo’s not going to question the dildo comment. “Great. Thanks, man.”

“No problem. How was your hangover this morning? I should’ve told you to drink water before you went to bed.”

Oh, where to begin with the hangover. “You’re not going to believe this, but Jongin showed up this morning at my house at 7. On top of that, my mom hid the ibuprofen me so I had to deal with that while dealing with Jongin.”

“Are you serious? What happened with Jongin?”

“He wanted to thank me for last night apparently. And then asked me why. He got really weird when I implied we were friends even though he’s said it before. He got really quiet and then he scrutinized my face, and ends all of that with “yeah, good friends” and then it was normal. I invited him to watch a movie, so he wouldn’t talk to me and then after that, enough time elapsed so that I could kick him out.”

“What’d you watch?”

“Stargate.”

“Nice. Do you want my two cents?”

“You’re going to give it to me regardless, so shoot.”

“I think that Jongin can’t maintain a lot of friends since he’s playing the game. Taemin’s probably his only friend and seeing how he acts differently with you, you are probably someone he considers a friend. Most likely you are one of two friends, and he might have realized it based on your actions at the party.”

Kyungsoo feels a little flustered when he considers what Minseok said. It’s incredibly flattering to think that he might be one of Jongin’s only friends. That pleasant feeling is quickly squashed by the bitterness of guilt. Kyungsoo can feel as pleased as he wants, but he has to remember that he’s not a real friend to Jongin, and this will not end well.

“Well, let’s hope that’s not the case. It’s a pretty shitty friend who exposes him for the fraud that he is.”

“Harsh words, Do. Have you thought about the delivery?”

“Not really. I could go full 90s and just throw a bunch of flyers over the commons, but it’ll most likely be something digital.”

“A PowerPoint on why Jongin Kim’s a fraud,” Minseok jokes.

Kyungsoo plays along. He snaps his fingers. “That’s it and to make it super authentic by adding six slide transitions per slide.”

“How can you dispute six slide transitions per slide? That’s pure art.”

They both collapse into giggles. Minseok cries when laughs so through tears, he manages to ask, “No, but seriously. What about showing them the journals?”

Kyungsoo manages to stifle his laughter, but he starts up again at Minseok’s question. “I just typed up every single ‘Death Note’ so I could turn it into the professor. It’s already at 50,000 words and the fifth one’s not even finished yet. These kids don’t even read their books for Language, and you expect them to voluntarily read an extra 50,000 words?”

Minseok stops laughing immediately. “Wait, what? Kyungsoo are you really turning the notebooks in to the professor? That data’s corrupted.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “The fifth book is corrupted, but the first four are fine.”

Minseok’s silent. When he speaks, his voice is very soft and hesitant. “Are you serious?”

Kyungsoo’s very confused by Minseok’s reaction. “Well, yeah.”

“Kyungsoo, you intervened in all of those. They’re all corrupted.”

Kyungsoo feels his face contort in anger. He’s worked very hard on his project. “That was the end of the trial. Jongin was dating them. He proved the authenticity of the character trope. There was no reason for it to go on longer.”

Minseok hears the anger in Kyungsoo’s voice, and so he tries to tread carefully, but this is a serious moment of lack of self-awareness on Kyungsoo’s part. “Kyungsoo, you said it yourself. You’re investigating how well TV character tropes work in the real world. Wouldn’t you agree that that also means dating and breaking up? Isn’t seeing why someone would break up based on a character trope part of that experiment?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t speak because Minseok’s right. A well-developed experiment would include the breakup since each character trope would inspire a breakup for a different reason if they broke up at all. That’s the real end of the trial. Kyungsoo’s ending it prematurely.

“Kyungsoo,” Minseok’s tone is halting as he speaks, “have you really never considered why you intervene?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are we finally getting somewhere in Kaisoo's relationship? *gasp*
> 
> Thanks for reading! You are all smol, cute beans


	19. Chapter 19

I.

“What did we tell you? We said if you ever told him, don’t do it at night. But you did it at night, and now look where we are. Fucking 7:00am on a Monday morning in the fucking school infirmary.”

Baekhyun’s been raving at Minseok since he and Chanyeol arrived at 6:45am. Kyungsoo’s not even here yet, but Baekhyun’s not going to blame his oblivious friend for this. He’s going to blame his extremely aware and stupid friend.

Minseok rolls his eyes. “You’re the one who called this meeting, Baek.”

This doesn’t phase Baekhyun in the slightest. “I’m just trying to nip this in the bud before we have a repeat of seventh grade. Do you remember what happened when he figured out he had a crush on you?”

“Well, one would hope that 18-year-old Kyungsoo doesn’t react like 12-year-old Kyungsoo.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Do you really think Kyungsoo emotionally matured beyond 12?”

The short answer is no, but Minseok’s going to give Kyungsoo the benefit of the doubt. “Yeah, I think you need to have more faith in Kyungsoo.”

“I’d have more faith in Kyungsoo if it hadn’t taken 3 ½ years for him to figure it out. And he didn’t even figure it out, you told him.”

“Yeah, it is incredibly stupid that it took me so long.” Kyungsoo agrees. He’s standing in the infirmary doorway. “How’d you guys get in before me? Do you also have a copy of the key?”

Chanyeol holds up a tarnished brass key. “I took Suho’s key. He hasn’t even noticed it’s missing yet.”

Baekhyun nods. “He never locks this door by himself since the janitors check the locks every night.”

Kyungsoo just nods. He’s very quiet when he sets his bag down and takes a seat. All three of his friends watch him closely, looking for any sign of a mental breakdown, but Kyungsoo looks good. He looks well-rested, and calm and steady. It’s exactly how he usually looks, which sets all of them on edge. What has Kyungsoo convinced himself of so that he won’t freak out?

Kyungsoo looks up at them expectantly. “So there have been some developments.”

Baekhyun squints. Is Kyungsoo serious right now? “Yeah, I would say so.”

Chanyeol spares a look at his boyfriend. They aren’t going to get the answers they need if Baekhyun keeps up this sarcasm.

“Kyung, you had a bit of a shock yesterday. Why don’t you tell us why it was a shock.”

Minseok flashes Chanyeol a thumbs up. Good job for getting to the heart of the issue.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “There has to be some kind of subconscious attraction. The fact that I’m intervening prematurely suggests jealousy. But that doesn’t wholly make sense. Jealousy’s an active passion, and whatever interest I have in Jongin romantically, or even sexually, is passive since it’s subconscious. I've seen him lots of time, but I don't think my heart's reacted any differently. It doesn't beat faster, it doesn't flip, it doesn't stop. I think rather than an act of jealousy, I just wanted to be noticed. And now I am.”

They all just stare at him. It’s Minseok who takes the bait. “I’m going to need you to break that down for me, buddy.”

“I don’t feel comfortable saying that I like Jongin especially given what I know about him, but I can’t deny that on some level I am interested, and that interest has been met. So since the interest has been met, I'm happy. I also think because it's being met constantly since I'm interacting with him daily, face-to-face, the interest is more back-burner and won't lead me to making irrational decisions based on emotions.

“The only thing that really bothers me about it all is the fact that my data is actually not as complete or good as I thought it would be, but that’s also somewhat redeemable. There’s enough good data in the first four books that it still shows my thought process and my analysis, so I can still turn that in to the professor. I’ll include a self-critique of my own work and mention the fact I ended prematurely. And then I just won’t turn in this fifth book, which was bound to be corrupted from the beginning. I’ve always planned to expose Jongin, and I will continue with that plan.”

Kyungsoo’s face is clear of any lines, creases or wrinkles. It’s completely relaxed. He’s not concerned at all, and that’s very concerning to his best friends. It’s very clear that Kyungsoo has logicked himself out of any type of emotional duress. Minseok bends his neck until his ear touches his shoulder before straightening back up. It’s his Kyungsoo twitch. Only when Kyungsoo is being 100% Kyungsoo, does it appear.

“Kyung, you can’t just ignore it like that.”

Kyungsoo nods. “I completely agree. I’m not ignoring it. I’m very aware that denying this kind of thing only leads to disaster. I acknowledge it and I just choose to do nothing with this kind of information.”

Minseok bites his bottom lip. It’s never a good sign when Kyungsoo refers to his own emotions as information. Minseok looks over to Baekhyun and Chanyeol and he sees similar looks of worry etched into their faces. Their only option is to retreat for the day and try again on another. At the very least, Kyungsoo is aware that he has some type of romantic feelings towards Jongin. That will probably be enough for now.

“Alright then since it’s not a problem, why don’t you and I go over the chemistry problem set?”

Kyungsoo nods and picks up his bag. “Yeah, that sounds good. I went over it again last night and I’m not sure that I did 7 correctly. I think Park’s here now if you want to go ask him for help.”

“Yeah sounds good. We’ll see you guys later.”

When Minseok and Kyungsoo are gone, Bakehyun sighs heavily. “I got up at 6am for a pointless 10-minute conversation.”

Chanyeol soothingly rubs Baekhyun’s back. “It wasn’t pointless, babe. You’ve really set the ball rolling for Kyungsoo and Jongin.”

II.

Kyungsoo’s gotten much better at discipline than when he was 12. Even though he wants to deny whatever he feels towards Jongin, he knows he can’t unless he wants a repeat of what happened with Minseok. If he’s being honest, this was probably a long time coming, and he’s very lucky Minseok told him when he did. Jongin’s super busy preparing for Dancehibition so Kyungsoo can at least expect a two-week reprieve from meeting up with him. That’ll give Kyungsoo plenty of time for his emotions to really settle down. While he personally feels no anxiety over the matter, sometime his emotions like to act up, so to make sure that doesn't happen, he has to make a preemptive strike.

Kyungsoo acknowledges that ‘preemptive’ is a bit of a strong word especially since he’s launching it against himself, but he also acknowledges that it’ll have the same effect as if it were on someone else.

Ever since Kyungsoo was in middle school, he’s hated doing large amounts of work that resulted in nothing. Ever since he’s figured that out, the busy work his teachers give out from time to time just makes him angrier and angrier, but finally he has a use for that particular quirk. In the event that, somehow, his feelings want to stop him from outing Jongin (it’s a small chance, but it’s something he needs to plan for regardless), he just needs to make sure that’s he done enough work so that he’ll be more annoyed to let all that work go to waste than whatever guilt he’ll feel for exposing Jongin.

The plan then becomes to plan how Kyungsoo will expose Jongin, and to make it super dramatic and complicated, which not only will make sure Kyungsoo goes through with it, but it’ll soothe his petty soul.

The best place to start is with Sehun, the crux of the entire project. Sehun, who isn’t in any of his normal spots, which is surprising because Kyungsoo thought that he pretty much knew them all. He’s not in the library behind the third shelf at the table near the wall, nor the bleachers by the pool, nor that one corner underneath the stairs. Kyungsoo checks the cafeteria just in case he’s fallen asleep there. It only happened once, but Kyungsoo’s desperate.

Finally, he decides to call Sehun. It goes straight to voicemail. Unconsciously, he lets out a concerned croon. Sehun always charges his phone, but he’ll turn it off if he’s feeling low, or so he told Kyungsoo. This is the first time Kyungsoo’s born witness to it and he feels really bad. He feels like he should have noticed something was up. Maybe he’ll text Sehun and ask him if he needs anything. That way it’ll pop up when he turns his phone back on.

Unfortunately, this also means he can’t talk to Sehun today about the reveal.

Kyungsoo could just leave the planning for another day, but he feels like he should at least get started on it. There’s only a little under two months left until graduation, six weeks until exams, and roughly two weeks until Jongin will ask Sehun to be his boyfriend (Kyungsoo figures Jongin will ask him after Dancehibition). That makes about four weeks of them dating before Kyungsoo will put his plan in motion.

Kyungsoo figures that the best date for the plan is the Monday of the last week of school because it’s also the first day of school after final exams are over. If he does it before finals week, it’ll die out too quickly since everyone will be studying. The Monday after is prime because not only are finals over, it’s also the last week of school. Most kids will be watching movies or having “study” time during class. It’s the perfect time to gossip. 

Kyungsoo lets himself slide down against the wall, and allows himself to decompress. He suddenly feels overwhelmed and he needs to take the time now to calm down. It’s going to be the only time he has to relax for the next seven weeks.

III.

Jongin shoves his head under the faucet and sighs contentedly when he feels the cool water. It’s his first break in over two hours. He’s in so many dances: three group dances, one trio, one duet, and one solo. He’s been in every dance they’ve rehearsed so far, but finally Ms. Jang announced one that he’s not in. He’s got about half an hour until Ms. Jang moves onto the next dance, and potentially longer if he’s not in the next one either.

He really just needs somewhere to sit down and stretch out for a bit and maybe drink some more water. Preferably all of this is away from the dance room. It smells overwhelmingly like sweat, and Jongin just wants to remember what breathing without gagging feels like. That leaves the hallway since he can’t be too far from the dance studio.

In the hallways, he finds the bane of his existence sitting against the wall with his head leaned back and eyes closed. Jongin slowly walks closer. Is he sleeping?

“Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo opens his eyes slowly and lets his head lazily swing over so he can see Jongin. He sighs, tsks, and rolls his head back up. “You again.”

Jongin feels giddy when he hears the obvious apathy in Kyungsoo’s voice. His teasing senses are tingling right now, but he has to tamper that giddiness because this is no longer the Kyungsoo that he thought he knew. But Kyungsoo knows none of this, so Jongin takes a seat next down next to him because it’s what he would usually do. The thing to do now is not arouse suspicion.

“What are you doing?”

Kyungsoo sighs again. Why is he so lethargic today? “I’m waiting for Min to finish practice, so I was looking for Sehun, but I think he left early. So I’m just sitting until Min’s done. I don’t really feel like doing anything else.”

This has got to be the longest Kyungsoo's spoken to him without some kind of acerbic remark. Jongin almost feels bad that he can’t help but be suspicious of the answer. Everything about Kyungsoo is now suspicious. What if his name isn’t actually Kyungsoo? He’s never seen any type of federal ID. Granted, that one’s probably not a lie, but the sentiment remains.

Jongin nods easily. “Ah yeah, we had lunch together, and he was fine then, but by the time math was over, he looked pretty bad. I think he went home afterwards.”

Kyungsoo’s wide eyes go wider. “He looked bad in math?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t talking a lot and he kind of just sat there.”

Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. “....—ered it.”

“What?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

Well now Jongin has to know. What it is? Is it a diabolical plan? Did Jongin just miss all of D.O.’s diabolical plan?

Mentally, Jongin shakes himself. He’s too worked up right now. He should have taken the two weeks he knew he was going to be busy and make sure he settled with this new information. He’s too high-strung right now. He can’t even believe he went to Kyungsoo’s house yesterday. It had been an impulsive move on his part, and it had gone badly. He knew it had gone badly. Kyungsoo knew it had gone badly. Kyungsoo had never looked more confused by a conversation, but Jongin just needed to see him. He wanted things to be different now that he knew, but Kyungsoo was the same as he always was.

“Aren’t you supposed to be practicing right now?”

Jongin takes a while to process the words. His mind’s still focused on his own stupidity.

“Jongin?”

“Uh, they’re practicing the girls’ hip-hop number now.”

Jongin catches Kyungsoo checking his watch.

“Oh, do you need to leave right now?”

“Nope. Min’s got another 15 minutes.”

Jongin tries to ease himself back into his old attitude. “You know it’s really rude to check your watch when you’re with someone? Like really rude? God, Soo.”

Kyungsoo tilts his head so that he can give Jongin a one-eyed glare. Without breaking eye contact, he takes out his phone and opens his clock app and sets his timer for 10 minutes.

“That’s low, Soo. I’ll start to think that you don’t like spending time with me.”

Kyungsoo looks down at his phone. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to think that.” Jongin watches as Kyungsoo cancels his current timer and set a new one for 5 minutes.

Jongin can’t stop his jaw from dropping. “Soo!”

Kyungsoo starts laughing and throws his head back, hitting it rather hard against the wall. This sets off a new fit of laughter.

It’s another milestone for Jongin and Kyungsoo as friends: Kyungsoo laughing in front of him in a way that isn’t snide or sarcastic. Jongin can't help by watch. It's so weird to see Kyungsoo being other than mean. This lying bastard is genuinely laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might be shocked by Kyungsoo's reaction, but are you really surprised? Our boy won't admit to anything he doesn't want to.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	20. Chapter 20

I.

It is Friday and Sehun hasn’t been at school all week. It’s not a huge concern. He’s never missed school before and he’s a senior graduating in less than two months. He can afford to do this. It’s a simple matter of forwarding his house phone to his Hyeonsok’s phone and getting Hyeonsok to pretend he’s their dad. Just like that, the school thinks he’s out with the flu, and Mr and Mrs. Oh are none the wiser that their youngest is skipping class.

To be fair, Sehun is burnt out. If he’s not studying, he’s swimming, and if he’s not swimming, he’s studying. And in between those two, Sehun manages to fit in sabotaging Jongin for Kyungsoo, and that becomes more and more tiring the longer it goes on. So he is very, very tired.

When he missed the rest of Monday, he had planned on coming back Tuesday, but then Sehun discovered the joy of doing absolutely nothing. So he extended his break until Wednesday, then Thursday, and now Friday. It’s been five perfect days of lazing on the couch.

He’s currently working his way through his mom’s recorded TV Christmas movies. The one on now is about two cat lovers. Sehun watches listlessly as the male lead breaks up with his bitch of a girlfriend. Ambrose, the cat, looks extremely pleased. Sehun had no idea cats could look pleased. Actor cats must be something else.

His phone vibrates from somewhere. He slides his against the pillow so that he can look down the couch and try to find his phone. When he doesn’t see it, he wriggles around to see if it’s under him. When he can’t find it, he sluggishly moves into an upright position, so he can look better. He hasn’t moved in five hours; how the fuck has he lost it?

It keeps vibrating, and it sounds like it’s coming from under him. He sticks his hand beneath the couch cushions and scrounges around until he finds it. He clicks it on and finds out that he’s got multiple messages from Kyungsoo.

**From: Kyungsoo Do**

**Hey Sehun**

**I’ve got your homework from all of your classes.**

**I can bring it over to you**

**If you want**

**Min and I can help you with it**

**If you want**

**Your call**

**Let me know please**

Sehun smiles faintly. Kyungsoo’s really nervous. Sehun hadn’t responded to any of Kyungsoo’s initial texts because he had wanted to truly enjoy being cut off from school. An entire week of that attitude and Kyungsoo’s most likely starting to feel like Sehun doesn’t want to talk to him. It’s not entirely incorrect. Sometimes Sehun just doesn’t want to talk about the plan, but Kyungsoo almost always wants to talk about the plan. It’s just too much sometimes.

  **To: Kyungsoo Do**

**Come on over**

**Parents are out till late**

This is the responsible answer back. An entire week of skipping means that Sehun’s got an entire week’s worth of homework to do. It’s a pain, but might as well do it now. He’s got no plans. Sure there’s the movie, but Sehun bets it’ll end happily. The cats will get the humans together. 

The doorbell goes off into a rousing rendition of Westminster Chime throughout the house. Sehun grits his teeth and shakes his head. He has no idea why his mother chose a doorbell that goes off for a good thirty seconds. They’re not the fucking Royal family.

Sehun’s just going to wait until it ends before he opens the door. Old Lady Kim next door always complains about hearing it if they open the door before it finishes. How an old lady who boasts of being hard-of-hearing can somehow hear the doorbell when the door is open is beyond Sehun.

Sehun times his walk over to the door so that he’ll get there right when the tune ends. He times it perfectly. The last note rings out just as he puts his hand on the door, but just as it begins to fade, it starts up again. Sehun wrenches to door open. Who in their right mind would press it again? Just knock.

Kyungsoo’s standing there, side eyeing Minseok, who’s standing with a finger just an inch from the doorbell, smiling innocently. “Nice doorbell you’ve got here.”

Sehun starts to reply when a withered old voice screeches. “You Ohs! What did I tell you about that doorbell! It destroys the peacefulness of this neighborhood. You’re the reason our valuation is going down! Soon all of those scoundrels will start moving in.”

 Sehun suppresses a sigh. “Sorry, Mrs. Kim. I’ll be more careful next time.”

In lieu of a reply, Sehun just hears disgruntled grumblings. _Bitch_ , Sehun thinks briefly as he ushers in his friends inside. He slaps Minseok’s hand away from the doorbell when Minseok tries to go in for a third time.

“Stop that.”

“What a way to treat your guests.”

 Sehun scowls in Minseok’s general direction while he closes the door. “Go sit down at the table.”

 A huge pile of paper reveals itself from the inside of Kyungsoo’s bag as he dumps it all out on the table. Sehun takes one look at it and groans. Ever single paper on there is in a packet, and every packet in the pile is a review packet. Once a year, each subject’s cumulative exams fall within the same week. It’s the perfect storm.

Kyungsoo smiles apologetically. “Sorry man, but you decided to skip a pretty heavy week. It’s worse for English since instead of the usual 3 units, English is drawing on last semester’s units as well. Have fun with poetry. Do you remember SOAPSTone?”

Sehun can’t even remember what SOAPSTone stands for, much less how it applies to poetry. He scowls and grabs the first one from the pile. It’s his Physics review, arguably his worst subject along with Calculus. He looks up at Minseok. “You’ll help me with this, right?”

Minseok scowls. “I told you not to take Physics B.” 

This is an old argument between the two. Sehun pouts. “But I wanted the extra points for my GPA.”

“Well, you don’t get them if you fail the class.”

“Minseok, please. You’re in Physics C. This has got to be child’s play for you. Listen man, I won’t ask you for help on the final if you help me here.”

Minseok narrows his eyes at the offer. “Did Jung say that if you got a 90 or higher on your exam you wouldn’t have to take the final?” It’s a rhetorical question. Everyone knows the answer.

Sehun averts his eyes and catches Kyungsoo shooting Minseok a pointed look. In direct effect to the stare, Sehun hears Minseok heave a long-suffering sigh. “Alright Oh, let’s see if we can’t get you a 90. If you set the curve, you’ll make Jung angry at the rest of the class, which is always a sight to see.”

 Mr. Jung was known for having the shortest temper in the entire country. A student could drop a pen, and Jung would blow up. Once, Kyungsoo had sneezed in the hallway, and Mr. Jung had swung open his door and bellowed at him to be quiet, completely ignorant to the fact that he was the true disturbance.

“But before that, Kyungsoo’s got something to say to you.”

Kyungsoo glares up at Minseok before turning fully to Sehun. “Yeah, I want to apologize for the project.” 

Sehun vaguely thinks he knows what Kyungsoo’s getting at. “The project?”

Kyungsoo’s head sways from side to side as he thinks. “Yeah, I think it’s very taxing emotionally and physically for you to be part of the project while knowing the full extent of the project. You’ve had a bit of a roller coaster with it because for a hot second, you thought you liked Jongin, and that can particularly suck when you know what he’s doing. And then just pretending to be into him when you know what he’s like can be just as bad. And you’re already a really busy guy, so I want to thank you for being such a trooper and continuing to help and I want to apologize that this is as burdensome as it is, and we still have a ways to go.”

There’s a lot to unpack in Kyungsoo’s speech, and Sehun does appreciate the acknowledgment of his efforts, but there’s one burning question he has that he’d like to get out in the open now. “Why are you apologizing now?”

“I’m not quite sure that I know what you mean.”

“Like right now, why not wait until the project’s over?”

“Yeah, Kyung, why don’t you tell him why you’re doing this now?” 

At Minseok’s cajoling, Kyungsoo blushes. Through gritted teeth, he manages to get out, “I was talking to Jongin and he just told me that you guys were hanging out before you left. I assumed it was being with him that set you off. Thus I assumed the project was bothering you.”

Given how much Kyungsoo likes to think, Sehun’s not really surprised that he figured it out. Kyungsoo very much believes in Occam’s Razor, and it very rarely steers him wrong. The interesting thing about it all though is Minseok’s teasing and Kyungsoo’s reaction.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on.

Sehun lets out a choked laugh. “Oh my God, did you figure it out?”

“You knew?”

“I admit that I didn’t at first, but I figured it out, and then the guys told me.”

“You told him?”

Minseok shrugs. “We have a groupchat.”

Kyungsoo lets out a dying groan. “It’s not what you think.”

Sehun nods, smiling deliriously. “Oh no, I know what you think.”

Kyungsoo angrily huffs. “Groupchat?”

“Groupchat.”

Kyungsoo swats the homework pile over to Sehun. “Start your fucking work.”

II.

On Wednesday, Kyungsoo goes to seek out Taemin. Taemin, who owes Kyungsoo, a few favors. Kyungsoo didn’t paint all of those sets for free.

Taemin, though under the same time constraints as Jongin, is not stressed at all. Taemin along with being a very gifted dancer is also the most productive lazer that ever existed. Taemin only took on level classes, so he wouldn’t have to spend too much time studying despite constant referrals from his teachers to go up. He refused because it would cut into his naptime.

Taemin always did his homework without fail. If he didn’t, his teachers would give him more work. This would also cut into naptime. The most impressive thing of it all was that Taemin always finished his homework for the night before school was over. He worked hard from 8 to 5, and then he did nothing for the rest of the day.

The only thing Taemin doesn’t do for the purpose of maximum lazing is dance. It’s his one true passion and he intends to ride that passion for the rest of his life. It’s the one thing he won’t skimp on, and attached to that is performance quality. Taemin plans out every aspect of a performance, and thus is a regular in the tech box for the auditorium.

Kyungsoo knocks on the door to the tech box. Scuffling can be heard from inside before there’s a bodily thud against the door. The door swings open with Taemin being dragged along with it. He balances precariously on the tech box step while his outer body is dragged with door, both hands latched tightly onto the doorknob. He and Kyungsoo stare at each other for a few seconds before Taemin steps down and straightens up.

“Sorry. I tripped over a box and all that happened.”

Kyungsoo peers around into the tech box and sees just boxes and boxes of cords and gels. “Is it always like this?”

Taemin looks behind himself into the mess. “No, it’s just me. I’m planning out my Dancehibition numbers. It’s Saturday, you know. And the lighting changes for it aren’t quite right. Do you want to come in? I’ll show you what I’m planning.”

Kyungsoo nods and steps in after Taemin. They both trip over the boxes before they get to the light board. Taemin turns all the lights up. “Okay, so we start out all lights up when everyone comes in. And then we start with the Dance 1 class, and they’re just doing this basic bitch, low white lighting.” He turns off all the offstage lighting and then turns the dial lower until the stage is barely illuminated. Kyungsoo can see it’s not a great lighting choice since it’s faintly reminiscent of hospital lighting.

“We call it basic bitch lighting because it’s the lighting that requires the least amount of effort. On a more professional note, it creates large shadows which can be very distracting unless that’s the effect you’re going for. The Dance 1 class is not going for that effect. After that is the dance team. They’re using this low yellow lighting.” He turns on another set of lights and dims them. “It’s a good choice because they’re just doing some of the dances they did during the football games. It’s not too extravagant. They have their more complicated dances later on, but it’s important to lead with a crowd pleaser.”

Taemin flips off all the lights. He looks over at Kyungsoo with a wicked grin. “And then it’s time for my solo.” He flips a switch and a blue lighting fills the stage. He flips one more switch and the blue light starts pulsing. “The first dance will be simple in terms of lighting. It’ll just pulse throughout the entire song. I know the light seems blue, but I turned on a blacklight as well. My costume is just a black bodysuit that’ll be painted with fluorescent paint.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool.” Kyungsoo finds himself leaning forward to get a better look. It’s not what he came her for, but he can appreciate Taemin’s showmanship.

Taemin grins. “Yeah, it’s going to be lit. I have my duet with Jongin that still needs to be figured out, but you didn’t come here to talk about that. What do you need?”

“Oh, uh I was wondering about the projector screen.”

“What about the projector screen?” Taemin turns around and starts rifling through the box of colored gels. He holds up two green ones and scrutinizes them.

Kyungsoo’s eyes trace over the sound and light board. “For my English class, I have to do a presentation over a book of my choice, and I want to do like a modern interpretation. So I thought I’d make a movie, and I’d thought I’d present it to my class in here, but I don’t know how to work any of the boards or the projector. Can you show me how it’s done?”

Taemin eventually decided on the green gel in his left hand. “Yeah, sure. Just give me a sec. I need to cut this gel to fit the light.”

Taemin swipes through the mess on the floor until he finds a cardboard cutout. He places it on the gel and proceeds to cutting. “What you’re asking isn’t that difficult. I assume you’ll be using your laptop. If you plug in your laptop using the HDMI cord, you can essentially just control it from your laptop. All you would need to do is press that button on the far right to lower the projector. It’ll also turn it on. Then just start the video and it should play fine.”

Kyungsoo nods along with the explanation. “What if I have it on a USB stick?”

Taemin stops cutting and looks up at Kyungsoo. “A stick? Kyungsoo, it’s 2018. Get with the times.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “I don’t want to haul my laptop around with me all day. It’s heavy enough with just my textbooks.”

Taemin doesn’t look convinced, but he tells Kyungsoo what to do anyway. “Then you plug it into the port here under the board. You have to make sure the movie’s the only thing on the USB otherwise it won’t play. Then same thing. Press the button to lower the projector and it’ll play. You don’t have as much control with the USB. If any part of the system is on, it’ll play regardless of whether or not both the projector and soundboard are on. So if you want to do it properly, make sure the sound system and the projector is on before you plug in the stick. Got it?”

Kyungsoo nods. “Yeah. Thanks, man. I don't want to distract you anymore, so good luck on your dance. It’s going to be great.”

Taemin smiles. “Thanks. I’ll be looking for you in the crowd on Saturday, so you better come.”

Kyungsoo starts backing out of the tech box. “Of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know these last couple of chapters have been slow, but I need to set some things up for the big reveal. We're so close to the end though. Dancehibition is next
> 
> Thank you all for reading!


	21. Chapter 21

I.

Kyungsoo really hates his school sometimes. They’re in high school for crying out loud. Why are they sending out school announcements to the parents like they’re in elementary? This is almost as bad as getting a permission slip signed for sex ed.

“Kyungsoo, look at this bulletin.” Mrs. Do turns her phone to show her son the announcement sheet at breakfast on Friday morning. Kyungsoo pointedly does not look. He’s already aware of what she’s trying to show him. Mr. Do leans forward to look at the phone.

Mrs. Do continues on, unperturbed by her son’s lack of a reaction. “It says there’s something called Dancehibition at your school tomorrow.”

“Does it?” Kyungsoo asks, voice slightly pitched.

“It sounds like some kind of dance performance.”

“Well, with dance in the name, it sure seems likely,” Kyungsoo replies neutrally. Mr. Do’s shoulders start shaking as he holds in his laughter. Kyungsoo shoots his dad a glare.

“Jongin dances, doesn’t he?”

Kyungsoo can’t stop his eye from twitching. There it is. “Yeah, he does.”

“So he’ll be in it, right?”

“One would assume.” Kyungsoo hates this. He hates it so much. Why does his mother insist on dragging this out?

“It sounds like a great date night.”

Well that seems like a stretch. “Is a high school performance really a great date night?”

“Anywhere with the love of your life is a great date night,” Mr. Do chimes in.

“Dad!”

“You’re not getting out of this, Kyung. You should just accept your fate.”

Kyungsoo sighs because he knows his dad is right. “Fine. But please do not talk to him unless he approaches you. It’s a very important night in terms of the project. He should ask Sehun to be his boyfriend tomorrow night if everything goes well.”

“And there’s no reason for it not to.”

Kyungsoo nods at his dad, “Yeah, exactly. Do you understand, Mom?”

Mrs. Do holds her hands up in surrender. “I get it, I get it.”

Kyungsoo breathes out in relief. “Thank you.”

“But Jongin’s a good boy, he’s going to come say hello.”

Kyungsoo tsks. He doesn’t know about Jongin being a good boy, but he does know that Jongin is an annoying boy.

II.

Dancehibition is much more dramatic than the Showcase. And it’s most likely all on Taemin. Kyungsoo knows nothing about dancing really, but he’s always impressed by showmanship, and Taemin possesses it in spades. That’s very apparent from the first dance because Taemin’s right. It is terrible lighting for the freshman girls. It’s too harsh and the shadows are super distracting. Why do they even have this lighting in the auditorium?

It’s very obvious when Taemin comes on. The entire auditorium goes dark, and the blue lighting Taemin showed Kyungsoo comes on. Kyungsoo thinks he sees the pulsing he saw on Wednesday, but it’s a lot harder to make out when the entire auditorium is bathed in darkness. Taemin comes out in a black bodysuit painted with paint. He looks like a stick figure and it’s really funny until he starts dancing. It’s really hard to laugh at the ridiculousness of the visual when Taemin’s as good a dancer as he is. As to the actual performance, Kyungsoo has no idea. He enjoys it, but he knows nothing about dancing. That could’ve been Taemin’s worst performance for all he knows.

Dancehibition continues on in its age-old order: group dance, group dance, solo, group dance, duet, group dance, trio, group dance, group dance. Kyungsoo enjoys it for the most part. He’s always impressed since he has no dance ability to speak of. The only bad part is after Jongin does a rather sexy solo, Minseok leans over and whispers, “When you’re laying in bed tonight reflecting over the day, I want you to think about how attractive Jongin is when he dances. Like really think on it, and just let what happens happen.”

Kyungsoo sucks his teeth for a nanosecond before replying. “What are you implying, Min?”

Minseok leans over until he’s whispering Kyungsoo's ear, “I think you know exactly what I’m implying, Soo.”

Kyungsoo shudders at Minseok’s breath in his ears. In retaliation, he grinds the heel of his foot in Minseok’s. Minseok’s been the worst ever since the revelation. It’s been snide comment after snide comment. Kyungsoo is this close to talking about Minseok’s porn habits in front of his parents.

The last dance involves every single dance class up on stage. Having roughly 100 people on a stage that can fit no more than 50, is a mess, but they try hard to perform the choreography. When the dance is over, they all bow and the auditorium explodes with applause.

“I thought that was pretty good. Much better than last year’s,” Chanyeol remarks when the lights come on.

Baekhyun wrinkles his nose, “I mean, Jiyoung set the bar pretty low last year when she vomited on stage.”

“She didn’t look like she was feeling that great when she danced this year.”

Minseok shakes his head. “She gets such bad stage fright. I’m glad she got through it this year.”

“Speaking of glad,” Baekhyun starts. “How about that Jongin?”

Kyungsoo frowns. “Very subtle.”

Baekhyun winks and shoots him finger guns. “Only for you, babe.”

“I thought he was very good. He does a lot of styles, but you can tell he gives it his all for all of them.” It’s a good neutral comment from Chanyeol, but then it’s immediately followed by Minseok who says, “Yeah, I loved how he looked like pure sex for all of them.”

That’s Kyungsoo’s cue to leave.

“I’m going to head out with my parents. I’ll see you guys on Monday,” Kyungsoo points to Minseok. “Don’t text me tonight.”

Minseok winks. “Whatever you say.”

Kyungsoo scowls as he ways away. Minseok can consider his number blocked for the next 24 hours.

Kyungsoo’s parents are near one of the exits, most likely talking about their plans for the rest of the night while they wait for Kyungsoo. Unlike the Showcase, Kyungsoo came with his parents. Initially Kyungsoo did plan on ditching them to spend the night at Minseok’s, but when Kyungsoo made those plans he didn’t want to strangle Minseok.

“Hey Kyung. How was it? I liked the stick figure guy the most. I also saw one of your teacher’s drinking out of a flask once and a while. Well actually, more than that.” Mr. Do looks rightly troubled as he speaks.

Kyungsoo nods. He knows exactly whom his dad’s talking about. “Yeah, It’s Mr. Lim, my Calculus teacher. It’s pretty well known that he’s a High-Functioning Alcoholic. As long as he doesn’t come to school drunk, the board doesn’t care.”

Kyungsoo words do nothing to assuage his dad’s troubles. Mr. Do looks over at Mrs. Do. “Two months until graduation, I guess.”

Mrs. Do pats Mr. Do’s shoulder comfortingly before addressing Kyungsoo. “Your dad and I were talking about going to the ice cream shop. It’s finally warm enough to enjoy it.”

Mr. Do shakes his head comically. “Don’t listen to her. She’ll look for any reason to eat ice cream.”

Mrs. Do slaps Mr. Do’s shoulder lightly and titters. “Jaesoo!”

Kyungsoo wants to gag. His parents are obviously in date mode. Staying at Minseok’s suddenly seems a lot better.

“Sua! Jaesoo!” A voice calls out.

Kyungsoo turns around surprised. None of his parents' friends are usually so animated. When Kyungsoo sees who it is, everything makes sense. The reason the voice is so animated is because it’s not any of his parents’ friends. It’s Jongin.

Jongin jogs over to them and throws his arm over Kyungsoo’s shoulders. “I thought it was you. I didn’t know you were coming. Did you enjoy the show?”

It takes every fiber of Kyungsoo’s being to not react to the arm around his shoulders. He didn’t know that their friendship had progressed to allowing skinship. He hates how much he notices the warmth from Jongin’s arm seeping into his skin through his shirt.

His parents seem just as thrown as Kyungsoo is over Jongin’s skinship with their son. Mrs. Do’s a pro though, and greets Jongin as if she doesn’t find it weird, but Kyungsoo sees the slight upcurl of her lips. She’s having too much fun with this.

Mr. Do is less successful in his efforts in acting like nothing’s wrong. He is zoned in on Jongin’s arm and his greeting is much more muted than it usually would be.

“Everything was great. You were wonderful. We were actually just talking about your solo. You have such a nice stage presence.” She’s smiling as she says it, but Kyungsoo’s knows she’s laughing on the inside. Jongin was in six dances and out of all six dances, his mother chose to compliment him on the solo, the incredibly sexy solo.

Jongin blushes. He’s not lost as to what Mrs. Do is complimenting him on. He rubs the back of his neck. “Ah yeah, thank you. I wanted to add something to my portfolio that wasn’t just ballet, and I wanted something different from the rest of the performances.” The crook of Jongin’s elbow is right at the back of Kyungsoo’s neck, so when Jongin drops his forearm down so that it hangs close to Kyungsoo’s pec, Kyungsoo’s neck ends up being squeezed. It’s not painful, but it’s not comfortable either. “The reason I wanted it different from the other performances is that our dance teacher, Ms. Jang, decided that she would write recommendation letters based on our performances at Dancehibition. She told us that the top three dancers would get the recommendation letters. I really need one since I’m planning to major in dance.”

Mr. Do briefly looks at Kyungsoo before asking, “Where are you applying?”

“K University and then some other more local colleges.”

Kyungsoo clenches his jaw. There’s only one reason why Jongin would only mention one of the colleges by name.

“Oh! Kyungsoo’s thinking of attending there. He just got his acceptance letter the other day. You’re applying quite late, aren’t you?”

Jongin smiles and squeezes Kyungsoo’s neck harder. “I already have my general acceptance for the psychology program, which gives me until June to hand in my recommendation letter and portfolio for the dance program.”

Kyungsoo is actively grinding his teeth right now. Jongin never said anything about majoring in psychology. That fucker.

“You and Kyungsoo might be in the same department then. But double majoring, wow. You’ll be studying all the time.”

“Ah, yeah, but I think it’ll be worth it.”

Mrs. Do smiles softly. “I’m sure it will be. Well, we don’t want to take up any more of your time. I’m sure you didn’t plan on talking to Kyungsoo’s parents all night, so we’ll set you free.”

“It’s always a pleasure talking to you two, but I do need to go find Sehun. Kyungsoo, have you seen him?” Jongin drops his arm to look at him.

Kyungsoo looks over at him, surprised. He would’ve thought that Jongin would’ve found Sehun first to make sure that he doesn’t leave before Jongin can ask him out.

“Uh, I don’t know. Have you texted him?”

“Ah no, he’s not a huge texter, so I thought I’d just look for him. But you’re right I should’ve tried it.”

Kyungsoo finds that suspicious. Sehun should’ve been texting back to show that he was interested. It was one of the small things that Kyungsoo had asked him to do, but Sehun has been a little out if it lately.

Kyungsoo pulls out his phone. “I’ll text him.”

“Thanks, man.” Jongin pats his shoulder. Kyungsoo isn’t able to stop his eye twitch. This is too much touching.

Sehun replies instantly. Kyungsoo shows it to Jongin. “He’s up by the stage talking to Yixing.”

Jongin’s face lights up in delight. “Ah thanks! I’ll see you later. Sua, Jaesoo, it was nice to see you again.” With a quick bow, and a lingering hand swipe on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, Jongin’s off to look for Sehun.

The Do family is silent as they let everything sink in. Mr. Do speaks first. “I didn’t know that Jongin was so touchy.”

“It is very unexpected, isn’t it?” Mrs. Do wonders. Her eyes are firmly on Jongin's retreating back as she speaks. She must be thinking very hard.

“What, mom?”

Mrs. Do shakes her head and wrinkles her nose. “It’s nothing, dear. Let’s go get that ice cream, why don’t we?”

III.

Jongin’s lead Sehun to the outside courtyard under the guise of wanting to look at the stars. It’s a bit anticlimactic when they lie down next to each other on the grassy knoll and look up at the sky. There’s too much light pollution to make out anything except the occasional airplane flying overhead. Jongin can’t help but laugh.

“Ah man, I’m sorry. I thought we might be able to at least make out a few stars, but it looks like we’re too close to the city.”

“Nah, it’s okay. This is still really nice.”

And it is. It’s a warm spring night with just the softest breeze to stop it from feeling too stuffy. The only noise is a few crickets chirping. It’s still too early in the year for cicadas to start screaming at them fortunately. It seems like the world wants Jongin’s confession to be perfect. If only Jongin knew if it would be perfect because the way Jongin sees it, there is a 50% chance that Sehun knows everything. He’s way too close to Kyungsoo for it not to be a possibility. If he does know, that will make the confession decidedly not perfect.

The shortest, easiest way to figure it out is to just ask Sehun directly, but Jongin can’t do that. Kyungsoo doesn’t know that his cover’s been blown, which means that for once in his short life, Jongin is ahead of D.O. He can’t blow that lead.

The second way, and the way Jongin plans to do it, is to watch Sehun closely while he confesses. The confession of romantic attraction is the most tender and emotional moment that a high school couple experiences bar the first exchange of “I love you”. Jongin has confessed to four different girls who all had romantic feelings for him. When he had confessed to them, each and every single one of them blushed like their lives depended on it. If Sehun knows about him then he won’t blush, but if he doesn’t know then Jongin can expect the same reaction.

“Did you like the show?”

Sehun hums, eyes still on the sky. He has a very peaceful expression on his face  “Yeah, I’ve always really liked watching dancing. You see all those idols on TV dancing really complicated choreography and you just can’t help but think ‘I’d like to dance like that too’. I got the same feeling watching everyone dance tonight especially that hip-hop number you did with Taemin.”

Jongin grins. That one had been the most fun to learn. He and Taemin had worked for weeks on that choreography. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”

“I liked all of your dances really. Your solo was the most unexpected one for me. I guess I was really surprised by how well you fit that kind of dance.”

Jongin winces internally. Sehun’s put it very diplomatically, but Jongin knows what’s being said. Being so overtly sexual doesn’t mesh with the Prince Charming character. Jongin had vaguely considered it when he choreographed it, but he hadn’t let himself dwell on how it would affect his project too much. He really needed the variety for his portfolio, and he hadn’t been lying to the Do’s when he said it was for the sake of getting the recommendation letter.

“Yeah, I wanted to try something new.”

Sehun nods to show that he understands.

They fall into silence, both of them just watching the starless sky. Jongin thinks of how to broach the confession. Usually he just leads up to it with conversation, but Sehun’s not a big talker. With Taeyeon, the character he played had required that he just blurt it out when they were alone. He had hoped it would come across like he just couldn’t keep his feelings in anymore, and Taeyeon had bought it hook, line, and sinker. A similar approach for Sehun might work, but Jongin should play it slower to give the impression that he doesn’t want to bother Sehun with his feelings. Prince Charming would never want to be troublesome.

Jongin lets the silence build for a few more minutes to make sure it sounds like he’s really hesitant.

“Hey Sehun.”

“What’s up?” Sehun keeps his focus on the sky. Jongin has absolutely no idea what he could be looking at.

Start slow. “I really like hanging out with you.”

The hesitancy seems to strike Sehun as odd because he finally looks away from the sky and at Jongin. “I really like hanging out with you too.”

Jongin takes a deep breath, “I mean I _really_ like hanging out with you.”

Sehun makes a confused noise in the back of his throat. He doesn’t seem to be getting what Jongin’s saying. That’s okay. It’s time for the big moment.

Jongin takes another deep breath, licks his lips and gulps to really show how “nervous” he is.

“I like you, Sehun.”

There it is.

The words seem to hang in the air. Sehun seems to be frozen before a vibrant blush steals across his face. He sits straight up and shakes his head. He licks his lips and Jongin can see his pulse jackhammering in his throat. And despite all of this activity, the blush remains on Sehun’s face.

Sehun finally looks over at Jongin. He licks his lips again. “I like you too.”

Jongin can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. It’s always amazing to hear someone say it back despite how fake the sentiment is from him. But it’s much more amazing to know that Kyungsoo hasn’t told Sehun, so he can still continue his project as well as beat Kyungsoo at his own game.

But Jongin still has a part to play.

Jongin makes himself smile a little wider, and giggle. He runs a hand through his hair and looks forward. “Uh well, great.” He pauses and then almost to himself, “What do we do now?”

With the blush still high on his face, Sehun replies, grinning madly, “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the confession is here. Sekai is dating. 
> 
> Also did you notice that I finally put the total amount of chapters? Because I did. 9 chapters left! 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! We're almost to the finish line.
> 
> Also if you don't understand Sehun's reaction, there'll be a more explicit explanation from Sehun himself in a later chapter.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll call the chapter cerebral central. It's mostly inner monologue from both Kyungsoo and Jongin

I.

In front of chipped maroon lockers at the top of the stairs is where Kyungsoo finds himself on Monday morning. It’s mostly sentimental to position himself here. The commons is circular and the second floor runs all the way around it, so there’s really no bad spot. Kyungsoo’s just been in this exact same spot for all four of Jongin’s break-ups and he’s going to be here when Jongin and Sehun walk hand-in-hand into school. It will be their public debut to the school as a couple despite the fact that most people know since they went to the Spring Party together.

The crowd below is milling around, playing on their phones and talking to their friends, killing time till the bell rings. Kyungsoo checks his phone. It’s 8:47. The bell rings at 8:53 to allow for a 7-minute passing period for the students can get to their first class of the day, which starts exactly at 9. With only 3 minutes till the first bell, the commons is packed with students.

“You think he’s coming?” Chanyeol asks.

“Of course he’s coming. He’s just waiting for the biggest crowd possible. The guy wants to make an entrance,” Baekhyun replies.

Kyungsoo doesn’t bother looking at his friends despite their sudden appearance. He’s entirely focused on the front entrance. Baekhyun’s right. Jongin’s going to wait for the biggest crowd possible, so he’ll wait until just before the bell rings.

“You guys don’t usually accompany me for this kind of stuff.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo sees Chanyeol shrug. “It’s the end of an era. This will be the last time Jongin walks in with his conquest. You know technically, he’s completed his game since he’s dating Sehun now, right?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head slightly. “His actual objective in this is a complete mystery be it a game or something more.” He can’t help the flash of annoyance that spikes through him. Jongin’s objective wouldn’t be such a mystery if he hadn’t cut it short. He gnaws on his top lip. It’s aggravating that he let his minor attraction to Jongin get in the way of so much. And he’s slightly worried that having conscious knowledge of such an attraction will do more harm than good in the end.

“It can’t be a complete mystery. He’s obviously taken on very common stereotypes. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to track him. Plus his consistency between characters in regards to the pen, the Party, even the confession itself shows that he’s conducting some kind of experiment. If you were to lay everything out in a typical experimental fashion, and try to find out what’s missing, you'd see that what’s missing is the question that drives everything. Why is he doing this?”

Kyungsoo smirks at Minseok’s appearance and explanation. It’s completely correct. Kyungsoo can probably say that Jongin’s objective is how well stereotypical characters function in a real world setting. It’s how Kyungsoo frames it in his notebooks after all, but Kyungsoo can’t call it a complete objective. He needs to know why Jongin’s doing it since that will determine how Jongin’s shaping the progression. Is Jongin doing this from a personal or systematic point of view? Either one prompts a different ending.

“How analytic of you. Maybe you should be the one doing this.”

Minseok leans over the railing next to Baekhyun to get a look. “Nah, a project like this needs a more personal touch.”

Kyungsoo roughly shoulders Baekhyun so that Baekhyun ends up falling into Minseok. Both of them tumble to the ground. Baekhyun squawks at the treatment. “That was completely unnecessary!”

“It was meant for Min.”

“Then tell me to move next time!”

“Then he would’ve moved and I wouldn’t be able to get him.”

Baekhyun’s retaliation is cut off by Chanyeol, who repeatedly slaps Kyungsoo’s shoulder, “They’re coming, they’re coming. Shut up!”

Dimly, Kyungsoo notices that Chanyeol’s slapping him harder than necessary, most likely because he knocked Baekhyun to the ground, but he can’t bring himself to care.

They’re here.

It feels like the entire commons quiets when they come in. It’s impossible to not notice Jongin. Jongin Kim, capital P Popular, in his pastel pink polo and hair piled high, holding hands with Sehun Oh, resident pretty boy.

Sehun, looking extremely uncomfortable to have so much attention on him, blushes and ducks his head. Jongin smiles bashfully. It’s silent until someone wolf-whistles. Kyungsoo’s eyes dart over to Taemin, whose fingers are still in his mouth.

The whistle breaks whatever trance holds the crowd. A few seem to congratulate the couple, but most of them go back to their conversations. Similar to what Chanyeol said about it being the end of an era, Jongin and Sehun are seniors. They won’t garner near as much interest as a Junior couple since they’re graduating so soon. It’s only interesting if the entire relationship is witnessed.

At most, Sehun and Jongin as a couple is interesting, but not surprising.

Sehun and Jongin make their way across the commons to join Jongin’s group of friends, miscellaneous people congratulating them on their new relationship.

Baekhyun sighs heavily and drapes himself over the railing. “Talk about anticlimactic. His relationship with Luna made a bigger impact.”

“Everyone saw this one coming. They went to the Spring Party together, and everyone saw Jongin defend Sehun against Ahjoong. That’s classic in-love behavior. When Jongin and Luna went to the Fall Party, everyone thought she was pitying him, so it was still a surprise when they ended up dating. Besides, senior relationships aren’t interesting, no matter how popular the couple.”

Kyungsoo extracts his notebook from his backpack and starts writing everything down. It’s really important that he stress the crowd’s reaction. It’s always the biggest indicator of how Jongin’s performed.

Kyungsoo’s writing down his speculations on how being a senior affects the reaction when Chanyeol slaps his shoulder again. Kyungsoo looks up, startled. He didn’t even touch Baekhyun this time!

“Jongin’s waving at you.”

Kyungsoo’s face morphs in confusion. “What?”

“Seriously, he’s waving at you.”

Kyungsoo looks down and finds himself making eye contact with Jongin. He’s wildly waving and grinning up at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo blinks in surprise and returns the wave half-heartedly. Satisfied, Jongin turns his attention back to his friends and resumes whatever conversation they’re having.

The exchange is only a few seconds, but perhaps the most significant exchange they’ve had to date.

It’s very odd that Jongin’s looking at him. When humans are just looking in general or even for something specifically, they hardly ever look higher than eyeline. It’s the main reason why Kyungsoo always positions himself on the second floor when things happen in the commons. But Jongin found him on the second floor. The simplest answer is that Jongin was looking for him. It’s possible that Jongin’s eyes were just wandering around, but the chances of his eyes wandering up to the second floor are slim to none. Kyungsoo has to accept that Jongin was looking for him. And like so many things involving Jongin, the question is why.

As always, Kyungsoo’s mind jumps to the worst-case scenario: Jongin knows that he’s D.O.

There’s one big problem with that. The first one is that there is no evidence to suggest that Jongin knows. There is a higher probability that Jongin waved at him because they’re friends and Jongin was fed the notion that Kyungsoo is very invested in him and Sehun getting together. It could possibly be Jongin being like _hey, all of your hard work paid off._ It’s easily the simplest and most probably explanation.

Occam’s Razor is Kyungsoo’s tried and true. It’s never steered Kyungsoo wrong in his life. Except this time Kyungsoo isn’t comforted even though he knows that he has the simplest reason. The reason for his discomfort being that this isn’t Jongin’s first show of odd behavior.

Kyungsoo can’t forget about the morning after the party or all of the touching the night of Dancehibition. If they were singular events, it wouldn't be so odd, but this is the third time. Three times means a pattern, and a pattern hints at another reason. His Occam’s Razor reason only holds up for this singular event, which means he has nothing. He has no idea why Jongin’s doing what’s he doing.

His thinking is logically sound. He’s found a pattern, which shows that there is a reason that has not presented itself to him. He doesn’t have all the information he needs to find the reason, but he knows he can find it. It’s so logical. What he’s already done and what he needs to do is so logical, but it’s not enough.

Deep down, so deep down that he wouldn’t even tell Minseok, is doubt. If he thought that everything he had done was purely logical, he would have gone forward to find out the new reason without hesitation. He just doesn’t know if it’s purely logical though. With Jongin, he’s acknowledged he wants Jongin’s attention. He also said that since he had Jongin’s attention, he was fine, but he’s not sure that it is.

Despite not caring how D.O. is perceived by the student body, he does do a lot of his work as D.O., and all of his greatest moments are under the pseudonym. At his core, Kyungsoo wants to be acknowledged and lauded for his work. He thinks it’s clever, and he thinks it shows his intelligence. D.O. is his proudest achievement, and he wants acknowledgment for it.

That too is not so simple. He gets acknowledgment from his friends. They thinks it’s cool, and they always help with it, but they don’t get it. They’re not impressed with the small details. They like the climax, but not the lead up. His parents acknowledge it and they’re obviously very proud of it and him, but since all of this has high school as a background, it’s very easy for it to come off as childish and inconsequential.

Kyungsoo wants Jongin’s recognition. Jongin is just as clever as him. Jongin takes pride in the small details. Jongin would understand the cleverness and intelligence behind D.O. Kyungsoo wants Jongin’s recognition.

It’s a simple desire, but it makes Kyungsoo pause. Since he wants Jongin to acknowledge D.O., he’s not sure how much he can trust himself right now. Desires have a way of bleeding into everything regardless of whether or not someone is aware of the desire. Kyungsoo knows that if he were to go looking for more evidence so as to explain Jongin’s behavior, and he interpreted it as Jongin knowing, then he would eventually unintentionally give himself away. And he knows that this would happen because he knows that his desires would love to fuck him over.

What does he do?

II.

Jongin is having a great day. On Monday, he went public with Sehun. There was a great reaction. It was a little muted compared to his last four, but there are a lot of reasons for that. Being a senior and Prince Charming’s not a big surprise in who he dates. That’s fine. They’re dating. Sehun is obviously into him and has no idea about him, so he can proceed as usual.

The next big thing that Jongin wants to achieve is getting an ‘I love you’. It’s the most telling on whether or not a character has worked. His characters are stereotypical, but each have their share of likability whether it be because one is nice, relatable, enviable or mysterious. Also each of these characters was made to be liked.

Jongin’s problem with ‘liking’ someone is that there’s different types of like. People say they ‘like’ someone when they met them five minutes ago or five years ago. It’s too vague even when meant in a romantic way. As emotions go deeper, people still only use the word 'like’ to describe it until it's somehow love. There’s a similar problem with the word ‘love’, but Jongin can at least be assured the emotion runs deep enough for what he’s going after: he knows these characters are likeable, but are they lovable?

Jongin’s main problem with character stereotypes in TV (and he has a lot of them) is that they drop their personalities for the girl. They lose every single interesting personality trait that they possess and become these carbon copy Mary Sues. It’s boring, and unrealistic. Jongin keeps the characters acting as they are with little to no change. He wants to see if people will fall in love with the stereotypical character remaining more or less the same.

To date, Jongin is only 2 for 4 in terms of receiving an ‘I love you’ from his test subjects. Luna and Taeyeon both said it to Jongin as the Nerd and the Boy-Next-Door. He’s not pleased with his results because the Nerd and the Boy-Next-Door are among the more relatable and likeable characters he has played even with how extreme he played them. He didn’t date Sunny long enough for her to say ‘I love you’, which is extremely disappointing because he was extremely curious to see if the Bad Boy character was loveable. He can blame D.O. for that failure, and for the failure of the Popular Jock character. To be fair though, the Popular Jock character seemed the fakest character to him, so he’s not even sure he could have gotten a love confession from Sooyoung.

The Prince Charming Character he has now is probably the easiest character to fall in love with because he is the original Mary Sue in some sense, so Jongin’s made sure to exaggerate some of the more annoying characteristics. He’s only kind; he never shows any disagreeable emotion or any emotion really. He treats everyone the same and he means everyone; Sehun gets no favoritism. 

Jongin personally thinks that Prince Charming is the most bland personality he’s ever taken on, even more so than The-Boy-Next-Door, who’s nothing more than a love-struck fool, but even the Boy-Next-Door has his bouts of passion to spice things up. Sehun seems to like it though. Aside from the cold shoulder early on in the process, Sehun’s been nothing but receptive.

Statistically, people fall in love in about 3 months. He doesn’t know when Sehun started liking him romantically, so he’s going to base it on the day he confessed, so that puts Sehun falling in love around July if he stays on schedule. It’s a bit late, but Jongin’s pretty sure that he can’t rush love. He’ll just have to wait this one out and keep his Prince Charming bland for the best results.

He also doesn’t have to worry about Kyungsoo acting as D.O. for at least a couple of months. The earliest that Kyungsoo ever acted was for Sunny, but even then he still dated her for two months. D.O. clearly never acts before two months is up.

Jongin gets the strategy. The first month is a bubble and the epitome of ‘love is blind’. The second month is when the rose-colored glasses start to come off and they begin to have problems with the character Jongin plays, and then it usually grows from there. Taeyeon was about to break up with Jongin because he was too clingy when she got her D.O. letter. Jongin wishes Kyungsoo had broken them up sooner; it was a chore dating Taeyeon for six months. He would've have broken up with her, but the Boy-Next-Door would never do that. What a pushover.

Realistically, he can avoid all of the D.O. drama if he just exposes Kyungsoo, but he needs solid, physical evidence. No one would believe Jongin based on just his word. Kyungsoo's too unassuming for the school to believe that he was The D.O. He needs a rock-solid plan, but while he thinks of a better plan, he’s just going to go ahead with Sehun.

The next step: First Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the first of a double-posting this week. When I initially counted the weeks until the fic was done, it was supposed to be finished the first week of October, and I can't have this going into October. I have my term paper due that month, so I'm double-posting this week so that I can get it finished the last week of September.
> 
> Also, I worked out the ending so that we'll have the last week of high school, and because I think you'll be unsatisfied with that ending, the last chapter will be an epilogue with a 2 or 3 year time jump.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! I hope you're still enjoying it! It's been four, almost five months since the first chapter was posted.


	23. Chapter 23

I.

Kyungsoo regards the review packet in front of him with distaste. It’s the first one he’s received and there’s 3 weeks left until exams. This feels preemptive and unnecessary. This also means that for the next three weeks, the only work he has in this class is this five-page review. So really this is Lim giving up on teaching for the rest of the year.

“Are you going to fill yours out?”

Chanyeol’s flipping through the pages with a scowl on his face. “This is all from first semester. The only thing from this semester is Riemann sums. Those weren’t even that hard. What about partial derivatives? Where are the partial derivatives? We spent four weeks on partial derivatives.” Chanyeol tosses the packet back on his desk and looks at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “They were on the cumulative exam.”

“Lim always reuses questions from the cumulative on the final, so where are the partial derivatives?”

Kyungsoo lazily finds the first derivative for a problem. “It’s good, isn’t it? Do you want partial derivatives on the final?”

“No one wants partial derivatives. I just want to be sure that Lim’s not going to pull a fast one on us like he did for the midterm.”

It takes Kyungsoo only a second to think it through. “Yeah, we should study partial derivatives.”

“Lim’s such a bastard,” Chanyeol mutters under his breath, and like he’s been summoned, Mr. Lim calls out, “What was that Mr. Park?”

Chanyeol straightens up and smiles, “I said I’m glad you gave us the review so early.”

Mr. Lim smiles like he knows Chanyeol’s lying. “You’re welcome, Mr. Park.” He turns back to Amber, who manages a sympathetic grin at Chanyeol before replying to Mr. Lim.

“Kiss ass,” Kyungsoo mumbles.

“Kissing ass is an important technique to practice if I want to go into the music industry.”

Kyungsoo can’t really respond to that, so he just goes back to filling out the review. It’s really mundane and not hard at all. Chanyeol’s right. It’s all of the stuff from first semester and the easy stuff from this semester. Kyungsoo bets he can fill it out all today, do nothing for the next three weeks, and then fail the exam because he finished the review too quickly.

“If I took a 0 for the exam grade, would I fail the class?”

Chanyeol types something into his graph calculator. “Let’s not play that game, Kyung.”

Kyungsoo huffs and flips through the review again. He has to send his final transcript to K University, so he can’t really afford to fail calculus. Resigned to his fate, Kyungsoo dutifully returns to filling out the review. The review’s not really helpful in the long run. He’ll do better on the exam if he just looks over his notes. The review’s nothing more than busy work. The one thing Kyungsoo can't stand.

Kyungsoo hears more than sees a chair banging against his desk as it’s flipped around. Sehun slides into the seat and slams the review down. “I need help.”

“So do I,” Jongin agrees, not bothering to turn the seat around. He carelessly throws the review onto Chanyeol’s desk.

“This is all stuff from first semester,” Kyungsoo grouses. He’s on edge with Jongin so close. He still hasn’t figured out what to do with Jongin’s odd behavior and he only gets angrier every time he thinks about the problem.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t here for first semester.”

All four are silent as they take a moment to process the information that Jongin does not have the any of the skills from first semester for an exam that’s predicted to be mostly first semester skills.

Chanyeol, Sehun, and Kyungsoo suck their teeth simulataneously. This is a worst case scenairio for sure.

“What college are you going to?” Sehun asks quickly at the same time Chanyeol asks, “What was your grade in pre-cal and what’s it right now?”

Jongin seems taken aback at the sudden verbal assault. “Uh, K University and it was a 97, and right now it’s 94.”

Chanyeol turns quickly to Kyungsoo with a questioning expression. Kyungsoo knows the question he’s asking. He chews his upper lip as he thinks. “The school’s mostly about grades and since he doesn’t have acceptance into the dance program yet, I’d say it’s even more important for him to keep his grades up. I think he’ll be fine if he can keep it at a 94 which means a 94 on the exam itself.”

Jongin’s face falls when he hears the high number. “A 94? Really? You did hear what I said, right? I don’t know any of the stuff from first semester.”

“Well then you shouldn’t have transferred into calculus when you hadn’t even done pre-cal!” Chanyeol snaps. Chanyeol’s usually pretty patient, but from the moment Kyungsoo told him that Jongin had transferred into Calculus, Chanyeol had been angry. It was the stupidest move Jongin could’ve made in his opinion, and for the very reason Jongin was freaking out about right now. What kind of idiot would take a chance with his grades over some stupid game/project/whatever the hell Jongin was doing?

It falls silent after that. No one knows what to do because all four of them know exactly why Jongin transferred into calculus, but they don’t know that the other knows. Kyungsoo resolutely only focuses on Sehun; he can’t look at Jongin right now. Sehun focuses strictly on Chanyeol; he’s afraid if he looks at Kyungsoo he’ll have an expression that says _we have a secret_ when it's a terrible idea for him to have that expression. Chanyeol’s looking straight at Jongin, expression hard; he’s had to witness a lot of stupid shit this year because of Jongin and he’s tired of it. Jongin’s eyes are on the review, seeing nothing; he is 100% sure that both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo know exactly why he transferred into Calculus, and now he’s feel a little bashful about it. It seems stupid if you know the reason why.

“I thought it would look impressive on my transcript,” Jongin mumbles. He looks thoroughly chastised under Chanyeol’s stare. It’s a weak lie, but it does it’s job of moving everyone forward.

“Failing isn’t impressive,” Chanyeol retorts. Kyungsoo knocks his knee against Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol knocks his knee back. He's not budging on this.

“I mean I agree, but it also helped me meet Sehun which is pretty great.” Jongin grins goofily at Sehun like he’s the happiest man alive. Sehun blushes under the attention.

Kyungsoo is resolutely focused on Sehun.

The look on Chanyeol’s face suggests he doesn’t think meeting Sehun negates getting a terrible grade. Chanyeol glances between Sehun and Jongin before lowering his head and sighing. He can’t believe he has to deal with this for a full four weeks. He places a hand on Kyungsoo’s knee and squeezes until Kyungsoo stops trying to burn a hole in Sehun’s face. When he has Kyungsoo’s attention, he gives him a gritted smile.

Kyungsoo wipes vigorously at his mouth to hide his smile. It’s the most hypocritical thing about Chanyeol. He cannot stand flirtation or any type of PDA even though he and Baekhyun are the most publicly affectionate couple to ever have existed.

“We can study together and help you,” Sehun offers.

That wipes the smile from Kyungsoo’s face. This is a bold move coming from a man who also doesn’t know what he’s doing. This sounds like a terrible idea. Kyungsoo knows it’s a terrible idea. Judging from the grimace on Chanyeol’s face, he also thinks it’s a terrible idea.

“Really? That’d be great.”

It finally occurs to Sehun that the crux of this plan relies on Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. He looks at them sheepishly. “What do you guys think?”

Chanyeol’s the first one to realize that there’s really no way to say no, so he responds first. “Fine, but there’s going to be a strict rule about no flirting while we study.”

Kyungsoo can’t help but snort. “You and Baekhyun flirt everytime you study together.”

“Baekhyun and I have been dating since we were 13. We’ve earned that privilege.”

Kyungsoo can’t believe that, but he’s not going to fight Chanyeol on this. He turns to Sehun. “I’m in, but we can’t study at my house. My mom’s working from home right now.” That’s not true. He just doesn’t want people in his house.

Sehun nods. “No, that’s fine. We can use mine. It’s almost the summer, so my parents are working late. Lot of parents trying to move house, you know.”

“Great. Is that cool with you, Yeol?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sehun’s house is good. He has the big dining table. It’ll be good for studying.”

“Cool. What about you, Jongin?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. If we could meet at least a couple of times a week, I’d be really grateful.”

Kyungsoo fields the implicit question to Sehun. “It’s up to our host.”

“Any day except Monday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’ve got practice and family stuff.”

“I can’t do Fridays or Wednesdays for the same reasons,” Jongin chimes in.

Kyungsoo’s just out of the loop for a lot of things. He has no idea why Jongin and Sehun still have practice when they’re a month out from graduating, but like a lot of things today, he’s not going to say anything about it.

“Great. I guess we’ll meet Tuesday and Thursdays unless you’ve got a problem, Yeol.” Chanyeol can’t have a problem. They’re running out of days.

“Nah, only Fridays are off limits. Date night with Baek.”

It’s common for Sehun and Kyungsoo to hear about Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s date nights. It’s been a standing tradition for 3 years, but Jongin looks amazed.

“You guys have really been dating for 5 years?”

Chanyeol nods, a proud smile growing on his face. “Yeah, five years in June.”

“That’s so long.”

After that intelligent statement, Chanyeol remembers who he’s dealing with and so he comes up with a fitting reply, “I can see how you would be surprised that people can stay—“

Kyungsoo interrupts quickly. “Let’s meet at 7.”

II.

Given how math class went on Monday, Kyungsoo’s not sure why he thought any study session at Sehun’s would go well. There’s 6 people sitting at Sehun’s dining room table. None of them are studying. Kyungsoo will give recognition to Jongin who is currently trying to work his way through a calculus problem based solely on the help of an overly technical textbook.

Sehun had been working with Minseok on Physics since that was Sehun’s first period class and thus his first final, but Minseok, a chronic procrastinator, did not want to study and managed to cajole him into playing battleship. Baekhyun hasn’t even taken out a textbook, but he shares a similar view to Taemin, and doesn’t take any of the higher-level classes. Chanyeol’s watching Baekhyun mark up his music score and offering his thoughts every now and then.

Kyungsoo is watching this all happen, but also not doing his homework. He’s distracted, but he also just doesn’t want to do it. He likes to prepare for exams, but three weeks is too much time. He’ll start studying the week before.

It also feels a bit weird to be here right now. Kyungsoo lives by a standard schedule that he doesn’t deviate from, and usually at 8 in the evening, he’s consolidating his notebook data onto the computer. He’s not usually sitting next to the subject of his notebooks watching him struggle with a simple integral problem.

Should he help? He feels like he should help.

“Hey Jongin, do you need help?”

“Yes!” Jongin explodes. “I don’t get it. I’ve been working on this for a while, but the book doesn’t make sense.”

Kyungsoo leans in to look at the problem. He taps the exponent on the sheet. “Don’t try to do it the technical way. It’s fine to learn it this way, so you can understand what’s happening mathematically, but we don’t really have that luxury right now. So what you’re going to do for the shortcut is just drag the exponent down in front of the variable. So _x squared_ becomes 2x and that’s the first derivative, and you just repeat that process if you want the second derivative or the third.” Kyungsoo writes the example down at the top of the page and taps it with his pencil again. “This is your basic rule of thumb for finding the derivative of an integral. Do you need help solving integrals?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Nah, solving integrals was a step in a most of the things we learned for this semester. I just didn’t know the simple step of deriving and only deriving.”

Kyungsoo wants to question that because even more common than solving integrals was deriving integrals, but he doesn’t think he should really question anything right now. His only goal for the evening is to get out without any big mishaps. It's a simple thing to ask for, but is it achievable?

“Your destroyer’s gone, bitch!” Minseok screeches in victory. He slams the red peg into the hole and then flips Sehun off all while laughing maniacally.

The look of horror on Sehun’s face suggest that he's never had the pleasure of playing board games with Minseok, so stupidly he tries to fight back. “Wait, wait, you only got my destroyer. I still have other ships!”

Baekhyun shakes his head sagely. He’s been in Sehun’s position before. “The destroyer’s the smallest ship, and the hardest one to find. It’s over once it’s gone.”

Sehun doesn’t believe that for a second. “No, no, just watch Minseok. I’m going to destroy you!”

Well no one can resist that challenge, so it’s a tense five minutes as everyone stops to watch Minseok destroy Sehun completely. It’s amazing to watch because, one, Sehun doesn’t manage to sink any of Minseok’s ships and, two, Minseok has managed to get a complete shutout on a guessing game.

“How did I lose this?” Sehun asks, head in his hands.

Minseok cackles and claps his hands gleefully. “It’s all in the strategy.”

“What strategy!” Sehun’s getting visibly enraged. To be fair,  Minseok’s cockiness isn’t helping.

Kyungsoo tries to calm him down. “It’s Minseok’s special ability. He can turn any type of game into a strategy game and win. He’s never even lost rock, paper, scissors.”

“You’re joking.”

Minseok cocks an eyebrow. “You want to test it out, pretty boy?”

Sehun raises a fist. “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Minseok barely manages to throw out paper while Sehun throws rock.

“It's a fluke,” Sehun growls.

“Let’s play again then.”

They play 7 more rounds and each time Sehun loses. Minseok’s willing to keep playing. He loves showing off his ability, but Sehun looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel, so Kyungsoo intervenes.

“Sehun! I think we should go over partial derivatives. Chanyeol and I think Lim will put it on the exam even though it’s not on the review.”

Sehun recognizes the excuse for the saving grace that it is and moves away from Minseok and the battleship board to sit on the other side of Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo gestures Jongin to lean in. He’s discovering it’s a lot easier to deal with Jongin when he has a purpose in mind. “You should go over this too, Jongin.”

Jongin nods quickly. “Oh yeah, for sure.”

Unfortunately Jongin will not be able to study partial derivatives tonight because Minseok calls out to him. “Hey lover boy, get over here.”

Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol have no doubt as to whom Minseok’s talking to. Sehun figures it out pretty quickly since he’s “pretty boy”. Only Jongin’s not quick on the uptake.

“Lover boy! Over here. We’ve got to play battleship.”

When Jongin still doesn’t move, Kyungsoo shoulders him. “He’s talking to you. He won’t let up unless you play a game with him.”

“But I don’t want to play,” Jongin whispers back.

“Consider it a rite of passage for hanging out with us,” Chanyeol explains. “We’ve all played with him and we’ve all lost. It’s just a way for us to get to know you.”

Jongin doesn’t look convinced, but Chanyeol wasn’t trying to be convincing. He was just trying to get Jongin to play the game. Chanyeol loves watching people lose guessing games to Minseok because they always end up flipping the board out of anger.

Jongin reluctantly moves to sit across from Minseok and begins taking out all the pegs and rearranging his ships. Gleefully, Minseok begins rearranging his ships as well.

“You can go first, lover boy,” Minseok mercifully allows once they’re ready to go.

“Thanks. E4.”

“Miss. G7.”

“Hit. So where are you going to college next year?”

“No, no,” Minseok shakes his head vigorously, eyes deadly focused on his board. “There’s no talking. I’m not Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo makes sure not to react even though he knows Sehun and Jongin are looking at him. He wants to groan. He should have never told Minseok about the chess game if he was going to bring it up. He hears Chanyeol stifle a laugh. Gods, this is going terribly.

With a resigned sigh, Kyungsoo drags out his math notebook and flips it open before showing the page to Sehun. “So the thing about partial derivatives…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double Update #2 is up.
> 
> Next chapter will be mostly Jongin and Sehun's perspectives for the first kiss and like what their current feelings are.
> 
> You are all my smol beans who I love. Thank you for reading!


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Kiss

I.

Jongin’s going over his calculus review, and he’s slightly angry at himself. When he got Suho to transfer him into the class, he hadn’t been thinking long term. This final could make or break his entry into K University.

He stares blankly at the first page. He’s filled the entire thing out, and he’s gone over it all to make sure that he understands everything on it. But he’s worried because both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had Lim for pre-calculus the year before, and they both keep talking about how Lim likes to include stuff in the exam that’s not on the review. Sehun doesn’t seem as worried as him about it, but that’s probably because he took the natural route and didn't transfer into calculus from pre-cal halfway into the year. Luckily both of them are being tutored quite extensively by Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

After the first Tuesday night tutoring session, and how much of a failure it was, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both started corralling Sehun and Jongin to the library during lunch for quick manageable review sessions on top of the Tuesday and Thursday night sessions. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are still hopeful the night review sessions are going to work even though Chanyeol basically admitted that he’s kind of useless with Baekhyun around, and when asked about Minseok, Kyungsoo had given a very noncommittal answer about whether or not Minseok would force them to play games again. Instead, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had promised to meet up with them before school and during lunch to help them with calculus.

Jongin breathes out harshly as he looks at the top of the page and sees the 2x Kyungsoo had written to explain derivation. Even though he is 100% positive that Kyungsoo is D.O., it’s hard to keep that fact in mind when Kyungsoo is trying so hard to make sure he gets a 94 on the exam. Chanyeol too because Jongin’s sure he knows. Chanyeol is, after all, the first one Jongin suspected of being D.O. In hindsight, it seems very obvious that Chanyeol is not D.O. Chanyeol isn’t nearly interested enough in anything he’s done while Kyungsoo was almost overly interested in his relationship with Sehun. He can’t believe he was naïve enough to think Kyungsoo was just being a good friend.

Jongin lets out a groan and rubs his fingers through his hair vigorously before shoving the paper away. He can’t right now. As always, he’s very conflicted about the whole Kyungsoo situation, and he has to be on point tonight because tonight is the night. He is going to share his first kiss with Sehun. Overall, it won’t be grand. Prince Charming’s too dull for that. Jongin plans for it to be more than a peck, but stop it before tongue. It should be five seconds and then he should pull away and seem like he’s overwhelmed and overjoyed. Jongin has learned there’s a technique to the first kiss. When he first started dating Luna, he tried to go in with tongue straightaway. He’s lucky Luna didn’t slap him. He’s learned since then. The first kiss is pure and chaste to relay innocent romantic feelings.

No tongue.

Jongin looks over at his clock. Sehun’s supposed to be coming over in half an hour to watch a movie. Jongin’s chosen an action movie because it’s Sehun’s favorite genre after marine life documentaries. Jongin will not make a move during the movie except to hold Sehun’s hand. He had briefly thought about throwing an arm over Sehun’s shoulder, but he has no idea where Sehun falls on the whole cuddling spectrum. Holding hands is a low-risk, high-reward situation. And then after the movie is over, Jongin’s going to walk Sehun out so that they’re on the porch. He’s going to ask Sehun if he can kiss him, because that’s romantic as fuck, and then he’s going to plant one.

First things first though: it’s time to get rid of Suho.

Suho is in the living room watching some sappy drama as always.  The living room is prime real estate since the only TV in the house dwells in there, but since it’s the only TV in the house, it’s a super nice TV. It’s a 40-inch flat screen that his parents bought after their Dad got his PhD. It’s perfect for what Jongin has planned for tonight. Jongin peeks his heads out and calls to Suho.

“Hey!”

Suho doesn’t look away from the screen. “You can’t have the TV. It’s the two-part series finale, and I’ve been watching this everyday for a month. I deserve to see them get together.”

Jongin understands why Suho’s reluctant to give it up. Not only are dramas addicting by their sweeter than sugar plots and endings that are easily wrapped with no residual angst, but by having a new episode every day that the brain is literally saturated with the content to the point that the brain constantly demands it. Jongin, as a rule, doesn’t watch dramas because he can’t afford to waste time on them. Jongin can dissect and diss them as much as he wants, but at the end of the day he’d be sucked into one if he let himself.

“Can’t you just record it?”

“Someone will spoil it for me if I don’t watch it now.”

“Suho, please! I only need it till like 9 then you can have it.”

Sehun finally turns away from the TV. It makes Jongin feel hopeful even though it’s likely Suho turned because it’s commercial break. “Why do you want it so bad? If you’re just streaming something, do it on your laptop in your room.”

Jongin’s best-case scenario involved Suho not knowing that Sehun was coming over. This was for no other reason than the fact Suho liked to make fun of Jongin’s project. Jongin's still going to try for the best-case.

“Please.”

Suho lolls his head back to take a good look at Jongin before grinning condescendingly. “Is your boytoy coming over? Is that what this is?”

There’s a new plan now: just get this over with as quickly as possible.

“Yeah. We’re watching a movie. Now get out.”

“What are you going to watch?”

“Some action movie.”

“Which action movie? There are several.”

“A superhero one.”

“There are several superhero movies.”

“ _Thor_.”

“Which _Thor_?”

“The second one.”

“What are you going to do after that?”

“Walk him to the door.”

“And then what?”

“Say goodnight.”

“And then what?”

“Let him leave ‘cause it’s a school night.”

“What? No kissing? Even though you’ve had two dates with him where you didn’t kiss him? That doesn’t sound very charming to me.”

Jongin huffs. “Fine, I’m going to kiss him. Now will you please get out?”

The commercial break ends and the drama comes back on. Suho gives it one last longing look before getting up. “Fine, but you’re out of here by 9. I’m having lunch with Ryeowook tomorrow, and we’re supposed to talk about the drama. I will not let him spoil it for me. Got it?”

Jongin nods vigorously. “Yeah, yeah, 9, got it. Get out.”

“Pushy, pushy,” Suho say teasingly as he passes by and goes to his room. Jongin throws him one last scowl before looking around the room. He grabs the remote and switches the source on the TV so they can play the movie. He grabs a random pillow and begins fluffing it like he sees his mom do it when they have company coming over.

“Hey, Jongin.”

Jongin looks behind him to where Suho is peeking his head out, a teasing grin still curled about his lips. “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

Jongin just restrains a sigh and goes back to fluffing pillows while Suho laughs raucously behind him as he goes back to his room. Jongin can’t believe he came back out just for that.

It’s another few minutes of fluffing the rest of the pillows and straightening out the various trinkets on the table behind the couch before Jongin hears the knock on the door. He makes himself walk calmly over to the door. He gives himself a little shake to quell his nerves, and then he opens the door.

Sehun smiles awkwardly at him. He looks a little worse for wear. His skill looks dull and there’s some pretty significant purpling under his eyes. It makes Jongin feel bad that they scheduled this for a weeknight. Sehun’s freely admitted that he’s staying up pretty late studying for exams, but he also had insisted they do this date night. Jongin almost hopes that Sehun will fall asleep during the movie just so that he can catch up on some much needed sleep.

This is all an internal dialogue, but outwardly Jongin just steps back to allow Sehun to come in. “I see you didn’t ring the doorbell.” Jongin makes sure to smile teasingly.

Sehun just snorts and rolls his eyes as he comes in. Jongin had gotten to witness firsthand Minseok’s love affair with Sehun’s doorbell.

After Sehun’s shucked off his shoes, Jongin leads him to the couch in the living room before going to pop in the DVD.

“Your house is really nice. It’s hard to find a house with vaulted ceilings.”

Jongin can’t help but look back questioningly. Sehun smiles sheepishly, “Sorry, my parents have rubbed off on me.”

Jongin just smiles back at him. It’s not a hard thing to do. Sehun is probably the most endearing person he’s ever met. If it wasn’t for the project, they would probably end up good friends.

When the main menu for the DVD pops up, Jongin grabs the respective remote and goes to sit next to Sehun. He sits a good 3 inches away, but the couch, which was bought because it was extremely overstuffed, sinks under his and Sehun’s weight and slides them down until their sides are flush against each other. Jongin tries to pass over the sudden closeness by clicking the play button.

Since Jongin’s not acting like their closeness is a problem, Sehun shifts slightly so that his arm isn’t sandwiched between his and Jongin’s body, but doesn’t move away. Jongin bites the inside of his cheek to stop a smile from growing on his face. This is going really nicely.

Jongin waits until they’re about five minutes into the movie before he starts glancing at Sehun’s hand. They may be sitting right next to each other, but Sehun’s hands are clasped together in his lap. There is absolutely no way Jongin can just grab Sehun’s hand from his lap. It’s too obvious and anyway he thinks about, there’s no way to do it smoothly. His best hope is that Sehun moves his hands at some point, which will most likely happen. Sehun can’t sit still for long. He always makes micro-adjustments to how he’s sitting. Those hands will not be clasped in his lap for long.

Sure enough not three minutes later, Sehun’s moving his hands so he can push himself to slouch further into the couch. Okay, good, Jongin just needs to let him settle down and get lulled into comfort. What Jongin doesn’t expect is for Sehun to roll his head to the side so that it rests on Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin freezes for a moment before relaxing. This is better than okay; this is great. Jongin feels relaxed and easy when he inches his hand forward and interlocks his fingers with Sehun. He hears and feels Sehun sigh and shift slightly to get more comfortable which results in him leaning more heavily against Jongin. He flexes his fingers before squeezing Jongin’s hand.

Jongin feels butterflies in his stomach. He knows it’s not because of anything romantic, but he has always been a sucker for physical affection. He loves it. It’s easily the best sign of friendship and romance. As a result when Jongin likes someone in any capacity, he’s touchy, and he loves when people are touchy back. Even Taemin’s constant tackling and wrestling is something he enjoys, but he does have a soft spot for touches like this. He squeezes Sehun’s hand back.

As the movie goes on, Sehun leans heavier and heavier into Jongin. At first Jongin can’t believe Sehun’s reacting so positively. Touching is, pun intended, a touch-and-go kind of thing. Luna had been for it. Taeyeon wasn’t a fan. Sooyoung and Sunny had to be in a certain mood for cuddling or hand-holding. Sehun seems like he’s a big fan of cuddling.

It takes Sehun’s hand falling slack for Jongin to realize that Sehun’s fallen asleep.

 _Well I did ask for this_ , Jongin thinks wryly. He gently extracts his hand and moves away slowly, gently easing Sehun down until he’s fully on the couch. Jongin grabs the throw from the back of the couch and lays it over Sehun. He turns down the volume on the TV.

Once he’s sure Sehun’s situated, he heads to the kitchen and sits at the table. He does a quick run through his social medias before playing a few random games on his phone until 8:45. The only reason he knows it’s 8:45 is because Suho texts him a gif of a clock saying ‘time to fly’. Just to be spiteful, Jongin wants to ignore it, but who knows what Suho will do if they go past 9. Besides it can’t be good for Sehun to sleep too long on that couch.

Jongin rises with a crack of his spine and a groan before going back into the living room. Sehun is still passed out with his mouth slightly open, the beginning of a drool trail starting to form. It’s a true testament to how tired Sehun is. It’s also oddly cute and endearing, but Jongin can’t help but focus on the fact that he’s going to have to flip that cushion before his mom gets home.

Jongin tries to gently shake Sehun awake, but Sehun is out like a log. Sehun only wakes when Jongin bodily shakes him. His head pops up and swings around wildly. He’s obviously very disoriented and it takes him a couple of seconds of staring at Jongin to realize where he is.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry. We’re on a date, and I fell asleep. I’m so sorry. We’re on a date and I just—“

Jongin smiles softly and shakes his head. “No, it’s okay. I’m glad you slept. You obviously needed. Was it a good nap?”

Sehun blushes. “Yeah.”

“I’m glad.” Jongin makes a show of glancing at the clock. “I’m sorry to kick you out, but I promised Suho that we’d be finished by 9.”

Sehun takes a glance at the clock. “No, it’s good. I told my parents that I’d be home before 10.”

It’s a silent affair as they trudge to the entrance hall and Sehun puts his shoes on. Tension is thick in the air. All of their dates have ended like this with the will-he-won’t-he. So far Jongin has held Sehun’s hands and squeezed them and then last time, Jongin had barely grazed his cheek with a kiss. Tonight’s the night.

On the front porch, Sehun turns to look at Jongin. “Thanks for giving me a place to nap.” He gives Jongin an endearing, awkward smile.

Jongin laughs lightly and returns the smile. “No problem, I’m glad my couch was comfortable enough for you to sleep.”

“Yeah.” The word slips out from between Sehun’s lips and falls. They stare at each other.

Jongin makes sure to gulp as he brings his eyes down to Sehun’s lip. They’re slightly parted. “Hey Sehun,” he whispers.

“Yeah?” Another whisper.

“Can I kiss you?” The words are barely said loud enough.

Sehun nods.

Jongin slowly shuffles forward and brings his hands up to rest lightly on Sehun’s shoulders. He breathes heavily through his nose and leans forward. The first brush of the lips is hesitant and barely there. They both breathe out shakily and look at each other. They can clearly see how nervous the other is. First kisses are always so nerve-wracking.

Jongin drops his back down to Sehun’s lips again and moves in again. This kiss is firmer. Jongin just stays still for a second to feel Sehun’s lips. It’s dry. Both he and Sehun could use more chapstick, but that doesn’t stop Jongin from moving his lips against Sehun’s. Sehun slowly begins to reciprocate until they’re flat-out 100% kissing.

Jongin slowly counts to 5 in his head. At 5, he slowly pulls away like he’s reluctant. He’s even slower to open his eyes. He looks over and sees a dazed expression that he’s sure is mirrored on his own face.

Jongin makes himself giggle like he’s overly excited. This serves to break Sehun out of his daze and lets a brilliant blush streak across his face. He coughs as a way to stop a smile from breaking over his face.

“Uhh, I’ve got to go.”

Jongin makes sure to rub his thumb over his mouth and dazedly hum in affirmation. “Okay.”

“Uhhh yeah, bye Jongin,” Sehun bounces off the porch, hesitates for a second, before bouncing back on a pressing a quick kiss to Jongin’s cheek. “I’ll see you Monday.”

Jongin looks up truly surprised and watches as Sehun runs down the street. He touches his cheek absentmindedly before smiling goofily.

Out of all the types of physical affection, kissing is his favorite.

II.

In the safety of his own room, Sehun lies on his bed, arms and legs fully extended. He drags an arm in and casually drags a finger across his lips. He had forgotten how enjoyable kissing could be. He’d forgotten how enjoyable a relationship could be. He feels cared for.

Sehun tilts his head so he can look out his window and more actively begins drawing his finger over his lips. The kiss he shared with Jongin had been one of his better first kisses, and he almost wishes the relationship he had with Jongin was real. Almost is the keyword. He’s learned enough about himself from this entire debacle to recognize that he just likes being liked regardless of the situation. He craves affection.

 _Maybe I should start dating someone,_ he thinks. The thought brings a smile to his face, but just as quickly it’s erased. He turns back to face the ceiling and sighs heavily. He can’t wait for this to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really tried to make this a true Sekai moment guys.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	25. Chapter 25

I.

Kyungsoo supposes that if he were to have a special place in Hell, it’d be exactly like where he is right now: in an empty classroom with a boy who he has unclear feelings for, trying to teach him calculus with an exam in less than a week.

Jongin groans loudly and vigorously rubs his head. It’s exactly this type of behavior that drove them from the library into a classroom. Jongin is exceedingly vocal when he’s frustrated.

“I’ll never get a 94.”

“Well that attitude's definitely going to help,” Kyungsoo snaps. He gets that Jongin’s frustrated, but Jongin’s been cycling through the same three phrases for over an hour now, and Kyungsoo’s patience is being worn thin.

“But it’s the truth isn’t it? I’m going to lose my acceptance to K University.”

There's phrase #2. Kyungsoo wants to slam his head against the desk. Usually when Jongin gets like this, Chanyeol can talk him down. He's very persuasive, but Chanyeol’s skill is currently being used on Baekhyun who has one final phone interview with the college of his dreams. Even Sehun in a pinch would be able to calm Jongin down, but he's with Minseok at an emergency physics review held by Jung. Despite Minseok’s best efforts, Sehun had only managed an 85 on his cumulative exam, which meant he would have to take the final. Fortunately Minseok’s threat to not help Sehun with the final if he helped with the cumulative exam was an empty threat.

“Jongin, we’re planning for the worst-case scenario here. It is quite probable that you could barely pass the class with a 70, and K University would still accept you. We’re preparing for the worst.”

Jongin brightens up immensely at that. “You’re right! I can probably fail and still be fine. Let’s calculate the lowest score I can get. The final’s worth like what? 30%?”

Kyungsoo puts his hand on top of Jongin’s phone and pushes it down to the table. “Let’s not play that game. Prepare for the worst-case scenario. It’ll impress the school regardless of their own policy for recanting admissions.”

“Are you preparing for the worst-case scenario?” Jongin sneers. He seems highly against preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Kyungsoo just side-eyes him. “I don’t have a worst-case scenario since I understand the math and didn’t transfer in halfway through the year.” It’s low-hanging fruit to mention Jongin’s transfer, but gods, he’s just so whiny. If Kyungsoo ever had any doubt that Jongin wasn’t Prince Charming around him, it's gone now. Jongin’s a brat.

Jongin pouts at the mention, but he doesn’t reply to it.

Kyungsoo covers the title of two graphs in the textbook. “Do you know what the parent functions of these graphs are?”

Jongin points to the one on the left, “cosecant,” and then the one on the right, “secant.”

Kyungsoo nods and pats Jongin on the shoulder. “That’s right. You’re doing better than you think. You’ve picked up the basics, and everything else just builds on that. I honestly think you’re going to do fine.”

Jongin breathes out heavily and just glares at the paper. “I just know I’m going to fail.”

And there’s phrase #3. Kyungsoo sighs. He’s already said all of his best things to try and raise Jongin’s spirits, but clearly it’s not enough. He’s not a comforting type of person. His best friend is Minseok for crying out loud. He’s more apt to try and make a stupid joke than offer considerate words. Telling a joke won’t go well though, so the best option seems to try and take Jongin’s mind off of the situation.

“Let’s take a break, okay? We’ve been studying for about an hour, we can afford to. What’s your favorite color?”

The absolute shock on Jongin’s face is a bit concerning. “What?”

Kyungsoo tries to quell the alarm racing through him by playing it casually. “We’re friends, right? You said it yourself, but I don’t really know all that much about you. So it’s an easy question: what’s your favorite color?” Inwardly Kyungsoo winces at his over-explanation, but it’s what he does when he’s nervous.

Jongin blinks quickly like he’s trying to quickly process the information, “Uh, okay. Red and sky blue. What’s yours?”

“Black,” Kyungsoo wracks his brain for another question. He was not meant for these kind of conversations. “Are you a dog person or a cat person?”

“Dog person for sure. You?”

“Dog person. Are—”

Jongin raises a hand, palm facing out. “No, it’s my turn now.” Kyungsoo leans back, a little startled. “Okay, shoot.”

“Are you glad we’re friends, Soo?”

Kyungsoo’s mind shutters to a halt at the question. What kind of question is that? Is he glad they’re friends? The short answer’s no. How can they be friends when Jongin’s doing what he’s doing and Kyungsoo’s doing what he’s doing? The long answer should be no as well for the exact same reasons, but Kyungsoo, who’s always been a fan of admitting things to one’s self, acknowledges that he and Jongin get along pretty well. They'd be friends if all the Prince Charming and D.O. stuff wasn't happening. So Kyungsoo smiles and nods.

“Yeah, I think a lot of great things have happened since we’ve become friends.”

Jongin smiles kind of weirdly at him. “I was thinking the same thing. Okay, next question. Have you ever dated anyone?”

“Dated a guy freshman year for about a month and then he left and never came back.” Kyungsoo always thinks fondly of Hyunsik, a boy who knew he was switching districts but still asked out Kyungsoo regardless, and then never told Kyungsoo he was leaving. Kyungsoo still has his number and every once in a while will call it to see if he answers. To this day, Hyunsik has never answered the phone. Kyungsoo’s got to give it to him. The guy’s committed.

“You sound very torn up about,” Jongin teases.

“Oh yeah, still heartbroken three years later,” Kyungsoo jokes. “What about you? I know you dated someone first semester and then last year, but what about before that?” It’s a guess on Kyungsoo’s part that he can feign ignorance of Jongin’s freshman and sophomore projects without any suspicion. To feign ignorance for the junior and senior years would be to admit ignorance of the popular circle, which is an impossible thing to do in high school. Kyungsoo might as well give himself away if did that.

Jongin leans back in his seat and taps his pencil against his lower lip. “Ah yeah, I dated Sooyoung first semester because it seemed like the thing to do since I was the quarterback and she was the head cheerleader. She broke up with me in front of everyone and—” Jongin stops and looks directly at Kyungsoo and then he smiles really warmly at him. Vaguely Kyungsoo feels his heart speed up, but it’s really hard to focus on that feeling when an overwhelming sensation of dread is washing over him. He doesn’t have a good feeling about this.

Jongin continues on, unaware of Kyungsoo’s sense of impeding doom. “I feel like I can trust you, you know?”

“I guess,” is Kyungsoo’s intelligent response.

Jongin nods. “Yeah, I can trust you. So the reason everyone thinks Sooyoung broke up with me is because she thought I wasn’t as invested in her as she was in me, which is an understandable reason, in high school at least, to break up. What I haven’t really told anyone except Taemin, is that she was convinced by D.O. that I was lying about liking her and just using her.”

Kyungsoo figures that the less he speaks the better, so he settles for a simple, “What?”

Jongin nods enthusiastically. He seems really into telling the story now. “Yeah, yeah, I know right. It’s insane. He left this note in her locker with all of these pictures of me dating different girls under these different “personas” and then breaking up with them. He even wrote a letter that told her exactly what I would say.”

Kyungsoo’s running out of one-word replies. “No…”

“Yeah no, it’s insane. Well anyway she was really angry and she ended up throwing the pictures at me and the letter. That’s the only reason I know all of this. But the letter itself that he had written to tell her what I would say was completely correct. He predicted everything I would say. It’s crazy.”

“Crazy,” Kyungsoo parrots.

“That’s got to be like some stalker-level shit to be able to emulate me so perfectly.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head in disbelief. He can’t believe he’s in this situation. “Insane.”

“Yeah, I know. I think he’s probably the reason my earlier girlfriends broke up with me.”

Jongin’s asking an implicit question at the end and Kyungsoo, desperate to vocalize something that won’t incriminate him, asks it.

“Why would he do that?”

Jongin snaps his head over to Kyungsoo like he’s asked the question of the century. Kyungsoo supposes it’s a similar feeling.

“I don’t know, Kyungsoo. Why would he do something like that?”

Kyungsoo’s face is blissfully blank while he considers the question or rather the implications of such a question. Jongin’s face is a skillfully schooled into confused concentration. There’s nothing odd about it, but Kyungsoo hasn’t spent four years watching Jongin for nothing. Jongin’s a fantastic actor, and maybe it’s the use of his full name or just some gut instinct, but Kyungsoo finally gets it. Jongin knows.  For how long, Kyungsoo has no idea, nor how he figured it out, but Kyungsoo knows to keep this fact to himself.

Kyungsoo doesn’t bother trying for any facial expressions. He keeps his face blank. “Maybe he doesn’t like you.”

Jongin hums, still watching Kyungsoo.

“Maybe.

II.

When Kyungsoo’s at a loss, he goes to his mom, the smartest person he knows. She’s never failed to somehow help him when he’s troubled. And while he wouldn’t necessarily consider himself troubled, his thoughts are too jumbled for him to proceed, which means he need his mom’s advice.

Ms. Do gets up every morning at 5am to sit at the kitchen table to drink coffee and read whatever psychology journal she has on hand until Mr. Do and Kyungsoo come down at 7. On this particular morning, Kyungsoo gets up at 6 (he tried for 5, but he couldn’t do it) to ask his mom for help.

Ms. Do looks up surprised to see Kyungsoo up so early, but she quickly gives him a fond smile before getting up to pour a second cup of coffee. Kyungsoo accepts it gratefully as he sits down.

“What’s bothering you, Soo?”

Kyungsoo shrugs. Now that he’s in front of his mother, he can’t think of what to say, which is ridiculous because he’s been thinking about it nonstop.

“Is it about your project? Has something happened with Jongin?” She asks taking a sip from her coffee.

Kyungsoo huffs out a laugh. Leave it to his mom to instantly pinpoint it even though he supposes there’s not much else that would affect him this much.

“He knows.”

Kyungsoo’s not really surprised when his mom just hums thoughtfully and takes another sip of her coffee. “You knew.”

“I suspected,” Ms. Do corrects. “At the dance showcase when he came over and put an arm around your neck. You were obviously surprised by it, and then he tightened his hold on you during the conversation. It struck me that make he was trying to make you submit to him, which shows that he thinks he has something over you, and the only thing you had over him was D.O.”

Kyungsoo wants to be surprised, but he isn’t. Jongin’s a cocky kid, but it takes a while to grow to maximum cockiness. For Jongin to be so bold as to tell him about D.O. knowing that Kyungsoo is D.O. suggests that he’s known for sometime. He sighs. He has more to tell his mother.

“I have a crush on him.” Kyungsoo’s thought a lot about it, and while he’s a little hesitant to make such a grand claim. It makes the most sense. He's acknowledged things separately. He acknowledged that he was interested in Jongin, and that he wanted Jongin’s acknowledgement, but he kept those two thoughts separate from each other as if they couldn't possibly be connected. The tipping point, and the connecting point, was when he figured out that Jongin knew, and instead of feeling absolute dread, he felt his chest warm. He was happy that Jongin knew.

His mother graces him with a small, fond smile. Kyungsoo groans loudly and cages his head in his arms. Face smothered in the table, he mutters, “Is there anything you don’t know?”

Ms. Do titters.

Kyungsoo pushes himself back up and takes a sip of his coffee. He really shouldn’t be surprised that she knows if Minseok knows, but he has to know. “What tipped you off?

 “You’re my son, Soo. I know you better than anyone. You’ve never been remotely interested in anyone until Jongin. From the moment you saw him, you were hooked and you’ve never been dissuaded. But I think I was really convinced when you were a sophomore. It was the yearly psychologist convention down by the coast. I brought you with me every year, but that year you didn’t want to go.”

Kyungsoo remembers this. “Because there was a party Jongin was going to be at and I needed to go.”

“Yes, it was a very big party. I think it was a party that had a lot of meaning if Jongin and Taeyeon attended together. I’m not quite sure. You were speaking very quickly.”

“Yeah, it was the Fall Party. It’s essentially a confession. But how is that odd? I’ve missed dozen of things to document Jongin.”

Mrs. Do nods. “That’s right, but that was the first time you missed something for Jongin. Up until that point, you would’ve missed your own wedding if it overlapped with the convention.”

Kyungsoo grimaces. She’s right. That was the catalyst. It’s becoming more and more obvious that he’s probably already liked Jongin for a really long time.  His ego’s crumbled to dust at this point.

“But that’s not why you’re up so early, is it?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer her question directly. He knows it’s a rhetorical question. “In a matter of days I am supposed to expose him, Mom. Now I think there is a great deal of risk  since he knows, and the irrational side of me would like to not expose him.”

Ms. Do rubs away a smile under the guise of thinking. She has never seen her son so reluctant to voice his own thoughts. No doubt he considers it a personal failing that he likes Jongin, but he’ll learn in time. She chooses her words very carefully.

“You have worked for four years on this project. You have planned for four years to reveal Jongin’s character. He knows who you are, but not what you plan to do. I think you should think on those three points.”

Kyungsoo glances curiously up at his mom. She usually lets Kyungsoo conduct his project with little to no interference, but she’ll offer her opinion if he asks. This is the most non-advice advice he’s received, but he knows his mother never says anything without reason. So he thinks.

The first and second points are already closely related. They no doubt refer to his hatred of busy work. He had planned to rely on this hatred when he first became aware of his interest in Jongin. But since he’s upgraded his interest in Jongin to a crush on Jongin, and Jongin knows, he obviously can’t only rely on that. It’s the entire reason that he’s here with his mother right now, which means it’s the third thing she’s said that’s the crux of the matter.

Jongin knows he’s D.O.

Kyungsoo keeps his trains of thought simple. Jongin knows he’s D.O., which means he most likely hates D.O. for all he’s done. Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh. Jongin hates him, so Kyungsoo’s crush becomes inconsequential and irrelevant. It can’t go anywhere. Any bridge between Jongin and Kyungsoo was burned the moment Jongin found out.

Jongin knows who he is, but not what he plans to do.

With his problems figured out, Kyungsoo nods up at his mom with a self-deprecating smile. “11 days to the reveal.”

Ms. Do hums neutrally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyungsoo had a hard week.
> 
> This is just an early posting. I have to move back into my dorm and read a 1000 pages before Monday. The next chapter will be next weekend.
> 
> Thank you all for reading!!! We're so close!!!


	26. Chapter 26

                           I.

Sehun’s the one to initiate a date for the Sunday after finals are finished. He feels like he should to show he’s interested and also that he's a good boyfriend. On a more personal note, he feels the need to bask in the warm feelings of being liked one more time before shit hits the fan tomorrow. His last reason for scheduling the date is that he’s curious. Kyungsoo had told all of them that Jongin is very much aware of who he is. It’s uncertain if he knows about Sehun’s involvement, but Jongin hasn’t displayed any of the cocky behavior he’s shown Kyungsoo, so it’s unlikely.

Sehun’s not blind. Being made aware of what Jongin does while experiencing it has actually lead him to understand Jongin a lot better than he would have thought. Sehun understands that everyone does micro adjustments to their personalities depending on whom they’re talking to. Jongin, still in Prince Charming mode, was unable to remain exactly the same the few times they hung out with Taemin. He was a little more crass, a little less polite, but a lot more relaxed. If they hung out with other people, he’s sure that he would notice more differences than when it’s just them.

With Kyungsoo though, the personality change is drastic implying quite heavily that Jongin is himself, no character, when he’s with Kyungsoo. This isn’t new information. It’s something that has bothered Kyungsoo early on and continues to bother him though Sehun suspects the concern has grown more personal. It’s because he suspects that most of Kyungsoo’s motivations are now personal that he’s curious about Jongin’s cockiness.

To put it quite bluntly, it’s very odd that Jongin gave himself away especially given how clever he tends to be. And it’s not like it was a barely there give away that you only notice if you’re already on high alert like Kyungsoo was. No, it was a very obvious give away. Sehun can think of nothing stupider than telling D.O. about D.O. and then asking D.O. why D.O. would do it. The entire time Kyungsoo was telling them about the encounter, Sehun and Minseok had kept giving each other glances every time a red flag popped up. They were a lot of glance exchanged. When he had talked to Minseok about the encounter later, Minseok hadn’t been nearly as confused as Sehun was.

_“It’s not rocket science, Sehun. People do stupid things when they like someone.”_

Sehun had wanted to slap his forehead when Minseok pointed it out. Jongin wanted Kyungsoo to acknowledge his cleverness in figuring out that Kyungsoo was D.O. Really, it just proves Sehun’s intellectual circle jerk theory. He honestly can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow now that he has all of this information.

But first the date.

Sehun’s chosen the ice cream parlor for a number of reasons. Number one is he fucking loves ice cream. Number two it rained earlier today and now it was super humid a.k.a perfect ice cream weather . Number three is he deserves ice cream after a week of exams, which he all aced by the way. He deserves to treat himself.

Sehun looks at his phone. It’s 7:10. Jongin texted him earlier that he’d be about 15 minutes late, so Sehun still has some time to spare. He unlocks his phone and goes through his email. He ends up clicking on the latest email from the school. It’s an announcement for an assembly tomorrow afternoon. It’s an event that was orchestrated by Kyungsoo, who somehow knew exactly much damage to cause to force administration to hold an assembly on exam etiquette after exams. To date it’s probably the most impressive thing Sehun’s ever seen Kyungsoo do.

“Ah Sehun! Sorry I’m late. I had to do the dishes.”

Sehun looks up to see a very breathless Jongin with very wind-swept hair. He must have run here. Sehun smiles up at him. “You’re good. I’ve only been here a few minutes myself.” There’s no harm in such a small lie especially when he’s dealing with a guy’s who entire character right now is a lie. Sehun can afford this. If he’s being honest, he even deserves this. Today is going to be a treat yourself kind of day.

Sehun stands up. “Let’s order the ice cream. You look like you could use some.” The bright lighting of the shop reflects off the thin sheen of sweat on Jongin’s face. He wipes his forehead with his sleeve and laughs, “Yeah. Ice cream sounds really good right now.”

They go up to the counter and order. Sehun gets the Super Sunday Sundae while Jongin gets a single scoop of vanilla. Sehun doesn’t say anything about Jongin’s lackluster choice, but he makes plans to come here next time with someone who enjoys ice cream as much as he does. None of this single scoop of vanilla shit.

When they’re situated back at their table, Jongin takes a quick lick of his ice cream before asking, “How’d your exams go?”

“Good. All of them were scantron, so the teachers were able to run it through the machine and then post it in the gradebook, so I got the results before the end of the day. I was worried about physics and calculus, but Minseok and Kyungsoo prepared me well. I managed to get an 86 and 91. What about you? How was calculus?”

Jongin grins excitedly, “It went great actually. All of that tutoring paid off. I managed a 90, which is honestly better than I could have expected.”

Sehun can’t help but genuinely smile at the news. “That’s great. So you’re definitely secured for K University. Now you’re just waiting for your acceptance into the dance program, right?”

Jongin’s smile grows wider. “Oh right! I didn’t tell you, but I got my letter on Wednesday. I got accepted into the program.”

“That’s everything then. You’re going to college.”

“I’m going to college.” There’s a slight flush on Jongin’s cheeks to show how happy he really is, and then it’s gone when Jongin looks back at Sehun and says, “You’re also going to college.” Sehun supposes that Prince Charming’s main thing is focusing on other people because it’s probably too selfish to talk about yourself. It's charming not to be selfish.

Sehun nods. “Yeah, S University. It’s about an hour away from K.”

“Oh, that’s really close. I’m glad.” Jongin scratches at the back of his head and bites his lip. It’s a completely put on affectation, but it’s not like Sehun can call him out on it. “I was hoping we’d be close together.”

Sehun decides he’s going to have some fun here. “Yeah, same. I was a little worried that our relationship would be extremely long-distance, but this is manageable.”

“Yeah same. I can probably drive up to meet you on the weekends.”

Sehun smiles. It’s a nice thought to think that someone would drive up to see him. “That’d be really great. Maybe I can drive down too that way I can see Minseok and Kyungsoo as well.”

Sehun had almost expected Jongin to react to Kyungsoo’s name, but he doesn’t. It’s a little disappointing. He was hoping for something dynamic. He resists the urge to pout.

Jongin nods. “Yeah for sure.”

Sehun might not have gotten the response that he wanted, but he did effectively end the conversation, which is a blessing in itself. He passes the time by eating his melting sundae. It’s so good. How else can he have fun on this final date?

“What do you think about the assembly tomorrow?”

Sehun sees a flicker of annoyance pass through Jongin’s face before he manages to school it into something neutral. He wonders if it’s about the assembly or him.

“It seems unnecessary to make the seniors sit through an assembly on exam etiquette when we’re leaving in less than a week.” Sehun suppresses a laugh. Jongin’s really committed to being diplomatic.

“I don’t know. I can see why they would want us to. Most of us aren’t done with exams.”

“The reason we’re having the assembly is because Mr. Jung exploded on a student during the middle of an exam. I really doubt I’m going to deal with someone screaming during an exam ever again.”

“There were apparently two other events as well that are going to be spoken about. I think Mr. Jung wasn’t the only one shouting during the exam, and then I heard rumors about dildos in hallways, but I’m not sure how legitimate that one is.”

Sehun sees the corner of Jongin’s mouth tilt upwards at the mention of ‘dildos’. Jongin should just let himself laugh. They’re high schoolers. Sehun’s going to understand if he wants to laugh at the word ‘dildos’; he laughed when he heard the rumor.

“I heard that rumor too, but I still think these are isolated events that I won’t run into on a college campus.”

Sehun nods along. “That’s probably true, but at the very least it’s going to kill time for what will be a very boring week of school.”

Jongin’s eyes dart around before nodding. “Yeah, I can’t believe we even have to come next week. Every single one of my teachers essentially said that we can do whatever we want. They’re not even half days like there were during exam week.”

Sehun swirls around the rest of his melted ice cream. “Yeah, I asked my teachers if we’d be able to leave the class, and they said no. It’s a week of sitting at a desk doing nothing." This is Sehun's 'treat yourself' day, so he can't help but add, "Now that I think about it, the assembly will be the highlight of the week.”

Jongin laughs like Sehun’s made a joke.

                            II.

Kyungsoo’s sitting at his desk on Sunday night, going over the plan for tomorrow. He’s successfully managed the hard part of the plan, which was getting the assembly to happen in the first place. Tomorrow should be smooth sailing, but Kyungsoo feels like he has to go over it until the plan’s engrained in his brain. Knowing that Jongin knows has set him on edge and given him the irrational fear that Jongin knows what he’s going to do tomorrow.

His phone vibrates from beside him on the desk. Unthinkingly, he answers the phone without looking at it because Minseok’s the only one who usually calls on Sunday nights.

“What’s up, Min? Are you excited for tomorrow?”

“What’s so great about tomorrow?” Jongin asks. Jongin, who is very clearly not Minseok.

Kyungsoo freezes. How the fuck could he have been so stupid as to speak into the phone without looking? He’s got to think quickly. “The assembly.”

“The assembly?” Jongin sounds extremely skeptical, which is completely fair. What’s fun about an assembly? Nothing he can tell Jongin.

“Yeah, we all get to hear how putting dildos in a hallway isn’t something someone should do during an exam without administration once using the word ‘dildo’.” Kyungsoo thinks that’s a pretty good excuse because now that he thinks about it that would be hilarious to experience. He’s almost sad that he won’t get to hear it now.

Jongin’s howling laughter sounds tinny through the phone speakers. “The dildo thing is real? I thought it was a rumor.”

Kyungsoo can’t help but crack a smile. “No, it’s real. Amber sent me a photo of them. Ask Suho about it. Administration should have sent out a memo detailing the specifics of the assembly.”

“Shit, I can’t believe someone did that. Why do you think someone would do that?”

Kyungsoo really needs to get them off the topic of the assembly, so he gives a joke answer before moving on. “To protest the extra week of school I guess. Why’d you call?”

“Someone sounds like they don’t want to talk,” Jongin teases.

“I’m just curious. It’s a rare occurrence.”

“Can’t I just talk to my friend?”

 _You for sure don’t think we’re friends._ “You could have just waited until tomorrow. It’s not like we’ll have anything else to do.”

“What if I just like hearing your voice?”

Jongin’s really verging on outright flirtatious behavior. “Save it for Sehun, lover boy.”

Jongin laughs again. He’s really in a good mood. Kyungsoo wonders what happened on his date with Sehun to put him in such a good mood. He feels the slightest tinge of jealousy flash through him. He shakes his head briefly. Ever since he admitted to himself that he’s had a crush on Jongin, he’s been feeling a lot of feelings. It’s really annoying.

“Sorry, I just had a date with him, and I was feeling really happy, so I wanted to talk with someone.”

“And you chose me over Taemin?”

There’s silence on Jongin’s end of the phone. Kyungsoo just assumes that his phone cut out. He doesn’t have the best reception in his bedroom, so he repeats his question. It’s silent again.

“Jongin?”

Jongin scrambles to answer. “Sorry, Suho was trying to tell me something. But yeah, I called you since Taemin hates talking on the phone.”

Kyungsoo snorts. It does sound very much like Taemin to hate phone calls. Kyungsoo’s not a huge fan himself, but he and Minseok usually talk at length and phone calls are the best medium for those kinds of conversations.

“I get that. So the date went well?”

“Uh yeah,” Jongin doesn’t sound particularly enthused anymore. “Hey listen, my mom’s calling me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?”

Kyungsoo’s a little confused by the quick cut-off, but he knows he doesn’t have enough information to even make a guess. He runs through their conversation in his head, but he’s 100% positive there’s nothing he’s said that would give away the plan tomorrow. And since that’s really his biggest concern in regards to Jongin, he lets it go. 

“That’s cool. I’ll see you tomorrow. Later.”

“Later.” The phone call cuts off.

Kyungsoo sets the phone down beside him, and goes back to looking over the plan.

Tomorrow’s the big reveal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I actually did have time to write another chapter before school started, so this is me posting as if I didn't do it on Monday. Anyway, the next chapter will be about the reveal and also how Kyungsoo got the assembly to happen.
> 
> I can tell you that I will be posting Chapters 29 and 30 together because I finished writing the epilogue. So in three weeks, this story will be completed.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading what has turned out to be a much longer fic than I thought.


	27. Chapter 27

 

 

I.

_Thursday, 9:39am, Fourth Period Final, D-Hall_

Kyungsoo, Minseok, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are sequestered in the boys’ bathroom in B-Hall, two halls away from Mr. Jung, the hall monitor in D-Hall. Kyungsoo locks the door and turns around to face his troops.

“Okay, today’s critical as you probably guessed since I dragged you out of your finals.”

“And yet you still wouldn’t tell us the plan,” Minseok grouses.

“I didn’t have a plan until Suho sent me the list of the hall monitors, and I think it’s going to work out. Jung’s got hall monitor duty right now, and Lim’s got it next period. Jung and Lim are easy to get angry, but we need to get them explosive. Minseok, I think Lim’s going to be on you since he hates you.”

Minseok grins, “I knew having a teacher hate me would come in handy. What about Jung?”

Chanyeol scoffs. “It’s not hard to get Jung explosive. You just have to know which buttons to push. Luckily, I am the Jung whisperer. Leave it to me.”

“Which buttons do you have push?” Kyungsoo asks.

“If I do my job right, hopefully you’ll hear about it from the man himself.”

Kyungsoo nods and moves on. His English exam is in D-Hall, so he’s in the best spot to hear the impending explosion. He turns to Baekhyun.

“That leaves you, Baek. You know what you’re doing?”

“Well you asked me to bring the box to school so I think I can take a guess. Do you have a specific time you want me to do it?”

“Yeah, next exam. Lim’s the monitor in A-Hall. Do it here in D, so we have something on both floors.”

“And you’re sure that this’ll be enough to get them to plan an assembly even though the school year’s practically over?” Minseok asks, doubt written clear across his face. An assembly this close to the end of the year is almost impossible. The administration wants the year to end almost as much as the students.

Kyungsoo nods. “Yeah, because we have two types of events planned. Having just Lim and Jung would result in an apology letter from administration for disrupting finals. Likewise having just the dildos would result in an admonishing letter from administration. Having both brings administration to the conclusion that everyone’s at fault and thus everyone needs to be reminded of exam etiquette. Also having three events all in the same day makes the situation seem much worst than if they were spread out, so there’s a good chance some helicopter parent’s going to threaten to sue.”

“I bet you 50 bucks it’s Daehyun’s mom. She’s head of the PTA.” Minseok holds out his hand like someone’s actually going to take the bet.

“No one in their right mind would bet against that,” Baekhyun retorts. “She’s the reason we only had water at prom. Of course she’s going to sue if she thinks her precious Daehyunnie did worse on his exams because of some noise.”

“Extremely stimulating conversation guys, but it’s been over five minutes. The teachers are going to get suspicious, and I still have to Jung angry.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. We’ve got to head out. Is everyone clear on the plan?”

They all nod.

Kyungsoo grins. “Well let’s go then.”

II.

_Thursday, 9:50am, Fourth Period Final, D-Hall_

Chanyeol strolls casually up D-Hall and makes a show of getting excited when he see Mr. Jung. He speeds up until he’s right in front of Jung. He fixes Mr. Jung with a frank look.

“So I’ve really been thinking about it, sir—”

“Dangerous pastime for someone like you, Park.”

Chanyeol blows right past that. “Thank you, sir. But anyway I’ve been thinking about it and no matter what, I keep coming to the same conclusion, so it has to be true. There’s no way the Earth is round.”

Jung freezes, and with very deliberate slowness looks up so he can stare Chanyeol right in the eye. His voice is low and deadly. “What did you say?”

Chanyeol’s eyes drop down briefly to look at Jung’s hands, which are now shaking with barely suppressed anger. This is taking less work than he thought, but he’s only done when Jung starts shouting. He keeps his face serious. “The Earth isn’t round. It’s impossible.”

Mr. Jung tries to keep his voice calm, “But what about the multiple pictures of the Earth that we have from space?”

Chanyeol waves a hand as if it’s inconsequential. “I mean if the government can fake the moon landing, I think they can fake the Earth being round.”

A blood vessel on Jung’s forehead is pumping angrily. “You think the moon landing is fake?”

Chanyeol scoffs. “Well yeah, obviously, but back to the earth being flat. So the world, whether you believe in like God or Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover, is obviously made for humans. So by Occam’s razor, humans live better on flat surfaces, so the earth is flat.”

Jung takes a deep breath. “Since the earth is so large in comparison with humans, and along with gravity, the roundness of the earth is comparable to living on a flat surface.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I know that’s like the ‘scientific’ explanation, but should we really trust science when at best it can only come up with theories that might explain the process for something, but not how or why it happens?” Chanyeol makes sure to use air quotes around the word “scientific”.

It’s the final blow for Jung. Red in the face to the point that he’s sweating, he opens his mouth, breathes in and then he explodes.

III.

Kyungsoo’s just bubbling in the last answer on his scantron when he hears Jung. It’s like he’s in the room with them. Angry, frantic shouts of ‘flat-earthers being stupid’ and ‘modern physics’ fill the room. The entire room is looking at each other in confusion. Ms. Kim looks like she’s about to explode when she realizes who’s shouting.

Kyungsoo rubs away a smile. Chanyeol’s the best.

IV.

_Thursday, 11:32am, Fifth Period Final, A-Hall_

Minseok approaches Mr. Lim with all the confidence in the world. He smirks up at him. Mr. Lim doesn’t look impressed.

“You’re in a pretty good mood for someone who just barely passed a final.”

“That’s because I’ve got a proposition for you.” Minseok cocks an eyebrow.

“Students who almost failed a final don’t get to make propositions.”

Minseok holds out his hands, palms up. “Hear me out, okay? Let’s play rock, paper, scissors, and if I can win 15 times in a row, you bump my grade up to a 90. If I lose once, then I keep the grade I have.”

Mr. Lim regards him for a moment. “It’s unethical for me to take you up on such an offer.”

“I have such a low chance of winning, sir. It’s really like your humoring me, sir.”

Mr. Lim looks up and down the hall before back at Minseok and nods. “Alright, but you have to win 20 games, alright?”

Minseok puts a fist on his palm, ready to play. “Of course.”

V.

_Thursday, 11:30am, Fifth Period Final, C-Hall_

Baekhyun places another dildo on the floor. He sighs with each one placed. “We didn’t even get to try this one out.”

Each dildo he puts down is supplied with its own commentary. He holds one that has an inflatable knot. He sighs again, pumps it up, and lays it down. He spends another five minutes laying the dildos down in a waving line until the box is empty. He looks at his handiwork, sighs again, and sets the box down. Now he has to wait.

It only takes a few minutes before he hears the frustrated scream of a teacher who’s lost 20 games of rock, paper, scissors in a row. Baekhyun pushes himself off of the wall and steps into the middle of the hall. He tilts his neck first to the left and the to the right. He takes a couple of deep breaths before taking one huge breath in and screaming as shrilly as he can. He does it for a couple of seconds and then escapes into the boys’ bathroom.

He waits for a couple of minutes before walking out of the bathroom, shaking his hands like he’s just washed them. He makes sure to stop abruptly as he looks up and sees the dildos that he’s put on the floor. He looks up alarmed and makes eye contact with Ms. Bang, who just looks so tired. She sighs before going back into her classroom, pushing the students who are looking out, back in.

Baekhyun makes a show of eyeing the dildos in confusion one more time before heading back to his classroom. Once he’s far enough away from C-Hall, he sighs again.

All those dildos. Wasted.

VI.

 

_Monday, June 6th, 3:45pm, The Exam Etiquette Assembly, Auditorium_

Kyungsoo slips away from the slow-moving student body and sneaks up the stairs to the tech box. He knocks on the door. There’s shuffling and a thump followed by a groan from inside. Kyungsoo steps back as Suho opens the door. Suho doesn’t look happy to see him.

Kyungsoo smiles up at him. “Hey! Look who it is! My favorite light technician.”

Suho groans. “How the fuck did you get me up here? I don't know anything about any of the boards.”

Kyungsoo steps up and past him into the box. “I mentioned to Ryeowook that you’re probably the only one who has nothing to do since it’s the end of they year. He mentioned it to the principal, and that’s how you got here. It’s not a lot of work. All of the lights are going to be on since it’s an assembly. They probably just want you up here to turn them off when it’s done. It’s nothing hard.”

Suho closes the door behind them. “And you just came up to say hi?”

Kyungsoo pulls out a USB drive. “I wouldn’t come all the way up here just for that. No, I’m here to insert this and then tell you to press a button.”

“Which button?”

Kyungsoo points to the button on the far right. “Push this one and then that’s it. It should play by itself.”

“What time do you want me to press it?”

Kyungsoo looks at his watch. “4:00pm.”

“4pm. Got it. You should head down.”

Kyungsoo nods as he looks out over the auditorium. He technically has free period, so no one’s taking attendance for him, but it is pivotal that people see him down there. He’d rather not have the whole school know he’s D.O. yet. Even though he’s sure that after the stunt he’s about to pull, Jongin will rat him out to the whole school. Until then, he wants a low profile. But he lingers for a second because there’s something that’s been eating at him. Suho has eagerly agreed to helping him with no kind of payment whatsoever. That doesn’t seem right considering Jongin is Suho’s brother.

“Hey Suho,” Kyungsoo starts off, but Suho interrupts almost immediately, “You’re curious as to why I’m so willing to help you.”

Kyungsoo nods.

Suho fixes him with a long silent stare until Kyungsoo’s practically squirming under the scrutiny, but he doesn’t respond. Finally Suho speaks, “I think that during the project or maybe right when it was decided that it was a project, everything else was put on the back burner. People were no longer people, but variables and that line of thought is a mistake. By ending the project, hopefully the line of thinking will stop. Or at least that’s what I hope. That’s what I’m thinking when I do this.”

Kyungsoo understands that not only is this for Jongin, it's for the sake of him, for the sake of Sehun and every girl Jongin’s ever dated. He nods once. Suho smiles and ruffles his hair. “Good boy, now finish this off, please.”

Kyungsoo slips his way back down to the main floor and takes a seat in the back. It turns out to be a great spot. Three rows in front of him is Jongin. He has a perfect view of his side profile. It’s too good. Kyungsoo breathes out a small laugh. Whatever god is watching over them sure has a sick sense of humor.

Kyungsoo’s brought out of whatever reverie he’s in when he hears the microphone feedback. He looks up at the stage and slouches down to hear what will most likely be a boring presentation. He can’t even bring himself to focus in on the lecture. He really doubts that he’ll ever run into a situation where a teacher screams loudly enough for the entire school to hear. Well again, anyway.

He keeps an eye on his phone and every few moments turns it on to check the time. At 4 on the dot, the projector starts to descend. Kyungsoo watches amusedly as the vice principal vainly tries to continue on even though she’s obviously thrown by the projector screen.

Kyungsoo’s not adept at editing, so he doesn’t try to pretend otherwise. The screen remains blank and only the audio plays. It’s Jongin speaking. Kyungsoo smiles as the audio rushes over him.

“We all fall into the temptation of believing in soul mates even if it isn’t logically sound. It’s going well with Sehun, but the big party that the whole school goes to is so important. It seems like fate. You have to date the person you go with. If he accepts me asking him to the party, it means he likes me. You need to dissuade Sehun from saying yes to anyone else. I want him to think that I like him. It’s romantic. If he says yes then it’s the right time. He’ll believe in the illusion that I like him.”

Kyungsoo thinks for the most part that the audio editing he did is pretty decent. It’s not great. It leaves too much up to the listener to connect the dots about what Jongin’s saying, but Kyungsoo only has that one conversation from the utility closet from D-Hall to work with. It’s not convincing, but the next part to come up is the kicker.

A vide of Sehun pops up on the screen. The teachers, who are now just starting to move stop when they see the image. The Sehun on screen looks incredibly sad, almost to the point of crying. He’s holding a piece of paper that Kyungsoo knows to be blank. Sehun looks up at the camera and begins to speak haltingly, “I guess I did always think it was odd that I caught Jongin’s attention. He was this popular jock and he was nice enough, but he was almost too nice when he talked to me. There was none of that arrogance you heard when he talked about winning the game or about anything really. I guess I just took his attitude change towards me as him being himself,” Sehun laughs self-deprecatingly. “I think I was just really happy that someone would like me like that, that I ignored all of the red flags. Of course I’m just another trophy in a line of conquests. I’m not worth someone’s attention like that.”

The image blacks out.

Kyungsoo feels his heart twinge sympathetically at Sehun’s speech. Even though he was there when Sehun filmed the speech written by Chanyeol, he can’t help but feel bad. Sehun actually looks really miserable and Kyungsoo knows that he probably is. Minseok had told him after the filming how Sehun had grown to hate the project. How he hated being nothing more than a pawn with no signifigance, and Kyungsoo can’t help but feel repentant of the shit he dragged Sehun through when Sehun’s just a guy who wants to love and be loved in return. In this moment, Kyungsoo feels incredibly shitty for what he’s put Sehun through. For treating him like a variable before treating him like a person. Kyungsoo breathes deeply, feeling for perhaps the first time the toll of his actions.

The audience aside for a select few see the video for what it was intended: Sehun as a victim in Jongin’s cruel game.

The rest of the video is simple. It’s a picture of Jongin in each respective persona with each of his girlfriends. Next to the picture is the name of Jongin’s character and a brief description of the main highlights. After those pictures are pictures of the pens, each pen bearing a different name.

Finally, the last image of Sehun’s pen fades out and a voice begins speaking. It’s Kyungsoo's, with a voice filter over it. The voice is higher than his and overly articulated.

“Jongin Kim has dated a different person each year, but rather than dating them because he liked them, he dated them because he found them easy and vulnerable. Each time he picked a person who would easily fall for any sign of attraction. He preyed on people who wanted validation in any form and he used them. Uncaring of any feelings that they might have, he used them for his own gains. He exploited the stereotypes we see on TV everyday and used them on unsuspecting people for the purpose of showing how easily people will fall for any type of attention.”

Kyungsoo cringes at his own speech. It’s not particularly good, but the point is made. Jongin is the biggest dick to ever walk the earth.

The last image to grace the screen is a white screen with the words “Sincerely, Your Distant Observer” typed in Comic Sans. It truly is an awful font.

The projector screen goes black.

All of the students begin murmuring among themselves at all of the information they’ve been given. Finally the teachers kick into action and begin moving towards the tech box. Kyungsoo, along with a handful of students, looks up towards the tech box. It’s black. Kyungsoo smiles, glad that Suho escaped before he was caught.

Kyungsoo looks back down towards the stage, but his attention is quickly diverted. Jongin is looking straight at him.

Kyungsoo’s thought a lot about his crush on Jongin and how useless it is. His first realization about it had been how little logical thinking could affect his feelings, and as someone who relied on logic more than anything, Kyungsoo had realized that that the best thing to do was to make Jongin hate him on every level possible.

Against every butterfly in his stomach, against every quickened heartbeat, and against every blush he’s ever felt, Kyungsoo makes direct eye contact with Jongin and smirks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I hope that all of those filler chapters make sense to you guys now. 
> 
> As always, you are all the cutest smol beans and I love all of you very much for reading this behemoth.


	28. Chapter 28

I.

Jongin is the villain. That is in no doubt. Sehun’s video could be nothing but sincere. So when Jongin walks into school on Tuesday morning, no one talks to him. They glare at him and no doubt talk about him when he’s not in the room, but no one says a word to his face. It’s actually quite common for all conversation to die when he walks into the room. Even his teachers don’t talk to him. They’re even worse. They give his exams back by throwing the exam in his general direction and not looking at him. All of his exams have gone sliding across the floor. Jongin supposes he deserves it.

Wednesday isn’t better nor is Thursday. No one’s talking to him, but they’re not doing anything to him either. He can take the silent treatment and he can take them talking about him behind his back. He couldn’t care less. Graduation’s on Friday. After that he has no need to interact with anyone from the school again.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite little pariah sitting all by his lonesome.” Taemin calls out loudly from less than a foot away before sliding along the bench to sit next to Jongin. Everyone out on the front sidewalk looks over at the loud greeting before turning back to whatever they’re doing. The action’s too deliberate. A pact has been made among the school to not acknowledge Jongin, and Taemin is loving it. He has never been louder when hanging out with Jongin, and every time people so much as glance at them, Taemin swings an arm around Jongin’s neck.

Jongin doesn’t react to the arm slug around his neck now. “What’s up, Tae?”

Taemin looks around at the kids surrounding them. “Fuck, this is amazing. I’ve never seen someone’s popularity drop so quickly. No one’s talking to me just because I’m talking to you. Shit, Kyungsoo really did maximum damage in a single stroke.”

“Taemin,” Jongin chastises. “Come on, man.”

“What? You have to admit it’s amazing that he could do so much damage considering how little people reacted when you essentially changed personalities overnight. I knew I liked him for a reason. Guy really had it out for you.”

Jongin hums noncommittally. Taemin’s just trying to get a rise out of him. Taemin tries again. “I can’t believe he got Sehun in on it. Sehun looked distraught. I wonder how Kyungsoo convinced him to get in front of a camera. If I were him, I would have wanted to hide the fact that I was used by you.”

“What’s your problem, man?” Jongin snaps. He already feels shitty about the whole Sehun thing. He doesn’t need Taemin reminding him.

“Nothing’s my problem, man,” Taemin retorts, not expecting the verbal backlash to be so harsh. “I’m just trying to cheer you up.”

“How the fuck would that cheer me up?”

Taemin rolls his eyes. “God, man. You’re too hung up on this. You’re out of this bitch in a week and then you’re in a completely new place three months later, and it’s all forgotten. It’s high school, man. It seems big now, but it’s going to blow over. Nothing’s ever that serious in high school.”

“I don’t think Sehun is going to forget this.” Jongin mumbles.

“Oh I mean of course not. If I were Sehun, I would also not forget the time I scammed the biggest scammer in school.” There’s a slight smirk on Taemin’s face like he has the biggest secret in the world. Jongin takes the bait.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, he obviously knew who you were from the beginning.”

Jongin thinks of his confession to Sehun. He shakes his head. “No, he didn’t.”

Taemin brays with laughter. “Are you fucking stupid? Of course he was. If he wasn’t with you, he was with Kyungsoo. There’s no way Kyungsoo would have just let one of his friends be the victim of your project.”

“Look man, I’m telling you. He didn’t know.” Jongin is growing increasingly angry. Taemin isn’t taking this seriously.

Taemin stops laughing and looks concernedly at Jongin. “Jongin, I’m telling you he knew. Your decision for the Prince Charming Character was because Sehun was moved next to you in your Chemistry class. Like at the time, you thought it was Park because he likes to make you work with people you don’t know. But now that you know about Kyungsoo, you think back on how it’s weird that Sehun was put next to you right after Sooyoung broke up with you. The timing’s too good.”

“But what could Kyungsoo have possibly had on Park to get him to change the seating chart? The man's as bland as flour.”

Taemin shoots him a look. “Damn, you really don’t pay attention to the gossip mill. In April, it was discovered that Park was having sex with his wife in the classroom. I’m going to guess that Kyungsoo knew about it from the get-go. Kyungsoo’s been playing you from the very beginning, my friend.”

Jongin feels the sting begin in his chest before Taemin’s finished speaking. Kyungsoo’s been playing him from the very beginning. Sehun’s been playing him from the very beginning. Jongin’s never been in control, and man, does it suck. He sighs heavily and looks over at Taemin. “Shit, I was never ahead.”

Taemin laughs and shakes his head. “Not at all.”

Jongin laughs. “Ah shit, man. From the beginning.”

“From the beginning.” Taemin repeats. Now that he’s laughing, Jongin can’t stop. He’s sure he’s getting weird looks, but he can’t stop. This entire time he thought he was at least equal with Kyungsoo, but he was so far behind, he couldn’t even see Kyungsoo’s dust. There was never a game between them. Jongin was nothing more than a puppet.

Jongin finally stops laughing and sighs again. “Ah, I lost completely.”

Taemin nods. “Yeah you did, but that’s also because you did nothing when you were ahead. You knew he was D.O. and you did nothing with that information.”

Jongin nods. He did nothing with that information. There’s the simple explanation of he didn’t think Kyungsoo would do what he did. There was no precedent after all. Another reason is that he didn’t know what to do. No one would believe unassuming Kyungsoo was D.O. He’s too normal. A third reason is that he didn’t want to. He liked having Kyungsoo’s attention. He liked D.O.’s attention on him. That, of course, would all end if he exposed Kyungsoo. And he thought he had a few more weeks of having his attention, so he did nothing (see reason one).

Taemin’s looking at him like he’s waiting for an answer and ducks his head to make eye contact with Jongin, “And do you have a reason for not using that information?” His eyes are shining with amusement. He already has his own reason for why Jongin did nothing.

Jongin sticks his tongue out and fake retches. “I think I have a little crush and I thought I could milk it for a little longer.” He can’t believe it’s come to this.

Taemin tsks and shakes his head. “Falling in love with the boy who mentally dominated you. I knew you were a masochist.”

Jongin barks out a laugh, “Yeah, well, feelings are weird like that.”

“They are indeed. What are you going to do?”

Jongin shakes his head as he thinks. This isn’t a normal situation by any means. His options are surely limited. “Talk to him, I guess.”

Taemin nods. “Now?”

“No, I’ve got some things to do first.” Jongin stands up. He might as well go now.

Taemin mock salutes him. “Good luck comrade. When you meet Kyungsoo don’t forget to tell him that if he ever gets bored with you, I’m available.”

II.

Jongin walks around the school looking for Sehun, who has to be here somewhere. There’s 15 minutes before school starts. Walking around looking isn’t his best plan, but he feels like it’s the best option. Texting Sehun feels like it’s not allowed and for some reason he has no idea where Sehun likes to hang out before school. Fortunately, by almost tripping over Sehun, he finds Sehun.

Sehun’s lounging on the stairs in the commons. He looks up briefly to see who’s almost crushed him. He huffs out a laugh before he looks back down at his phone. He seems entirely unconcerned that the guy who broke his heart is behind him. Jongin supposes that that’s more than enough proof that Sehun was in on it.

With no further reaction from Sehun, Jongin chooses to sit down next to him on the stairs. Sehun says nothing still. Jongin sits quietly next to him and waits. When it becomes apparent Sehun’s not going to say anything, Jongin takes a leap.

“I think I owe you an apology.”

Sehun snorts and doesn’t look up from his phone. “Do you now?” Sehun’s entire demeanor is different now. He’s not sad. He’s sarcastic and detached.

Jongin nods. “Yeah, I did some pretty shitty stuff to you.”

Sehun flicks over to Facebook account. “Oh, it’s not just me you did shitty things to. I knew what you were doing, but there are four girls before me who didn’t. They’re the ones who really need an apology.”

“So you did know.”

Sehun nods. “Well yeah, I’m actually surprised you didn’t think I was in on it when you found out D.O. was Kyungsoo.”

Sehun’s cutting to the quick. Jongin also thinks he’s stupid for not knowing that Sehun was in on it given how much he hangs out with Kyungsoo.

“Well I did, but when I confessed to you, your reaction seemed very genuine.” Jongin doesn’t know why he’s bringing the point up when it’s a moot point. Sehun was in on it. He’s admitted to it.

Sehun locks his phone and looks up at Jongin. His expression is frank and open. “Has anyone ever confessed to you?”

“No,” Jongin replies quickly.  His entire high school career has revolved around him playing the characters. He never really noticed anyone outside of the project.

Sehun nods very seriously. “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious. I’ll let you know what this entire process has been like since you have no idea, and I think you should know. So I knew from the very beginning who you were, and for the most part Kyungsoo gave me pretty explicit instructions to be very receptive to your advances. So I went along with everything you did, and you of course were playing Prince Charming. Prince Charming’s thing is being very attentive and kind, and honestly I ate it up. I loved the attention you paid me and it fed my ego that one of the most attractive people in the school was paying that kind of attention to me.

“Of course at the time, I did think that I was falling for you, but I was introduced to the idea that I just liked the attention. And I thought about it, and I was still a little iffy about it. I thought maybe I might like you still, but a lot of things happened that really convinced me that I didn’t like you. And the biggest contribution to that was the longevity of the thing essentially. It was nice being with you, but afterwards I was tired and the magic of the moments was dead. But in the dates and the moments with you it still felt amazing to be doted on. Kyungsoo kept me up to date with what you would do, and so I knew that you were planning to confess. I wasn’t unprepared for what you were planning to do.

“Of course it happened like Kyungsoo planned it, and when we were lying on the grass, I was preparing myself for the confession. I tried to make myself receptive to the confession because I didn’t know how I would react to it. I did think that maybe I would fuck it up somehow. Then you confessed and instantly I became flustered. Before I could even think through a reaction, I reacted perfectly. It was as if I really liked you. Because even though logically I knew you were a liar, emotionally I felt fulfilled. For a moment anyway.

“It’s extremely gratifying to hear that someone likes you especially as a high school student who’s insecure about whether or not people like him. It overtakes any logical thought. I was just happy to hear someone liked me, fake or not.”

Jongin’s still while he listens to Sehun’s side of the story. He’s extremely curious about Sehun’s side of the story, and he’s interested in the answer as to why Sehun reacted like he did.  The story is different than what he would have expected. He’s surprised that Sehun would fall for him even though he knew. He’s also a little surprised that Kyungsoo knew his game so well, even though he shouldn’t be surprised by that. The pinnacle of the story of course is the end when against Sehun’s better judgment, his emotions get the better of him. He leans back against the step and thinks.

Sehun looks at him and laughs harshly. “God, you’re so fucking similar. Kyungsoo also couldn’t believe that his emotions could get the better of his logic. You have to realize that emotions don’t follow the stupid rules of logic. We have these subconscious desires that logic can’t touch. Logic isn’t this all-powerful thing. In fact, I think you’re severely crippled if you deny your emotions.” Sehun’s actually angry at the end of this speech and blows out harshly. He glares at Jongin.

“Look at you. I bet you don’t even realize that you like Kyungsoo.”

Jongin leans back, slightly offended that someone would think he was so dense. Sure it took an off-handed comment from Kyungsoo to figure it out, but he’s got it now. “No, I know.”

Sehun scoffs. “Okay, great. I’m going to take a guess that it’s a pretty recent thing and that you figured out he was D.O. first, right?”

Jongin nods. He doesn’t really know how to react to Sehun’s new animosity. He’s almost a completely different person. But to himself, Jongin admits that he'd like to hang out with this Sehun.

“Yeah okay, so you knew he was D.O., right? And you did nothing. Why did you do nothing? The logical thing is to do something, right? He is your arch nemesis, right?” The sarcasm spitting from Sehun is deadly.

Jongin, of course, isn’t going to have a response to this because he’s in the middle of an epiphany. The logical thing would have been to expose Kyungsoo the moment he figured it out, but he didn’t. Sure he admitted to Taemin that he wanted to have Kyungsoo's attention for as long as he could, but he only let himself do that because he thought Kyungsoo wasn't going to do anything. There was a logical thought process. But Sehun's right. The true logical step would have been to expose Kyungsoo from the beginning to avoid any unplanned for events a.k.a the assembly, but he didn't. And know he knows why.

Jongin lets his head fall against the back step. “Fuck!”

Sehun gets up with a sigh. “Idiots.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter in high school and then the epilogue. But we finally are at a moment of mutual feelings. Finally, it only took eons.


	29. Chapter 29

I.

Jongin should have expected this. He’s been exposed. Every single character of him has been exposed. So he really shouldn’t be surprised when Luna calls him. She had been contacted by Sooyoung, the only girl Jongin dated who's still in high school.  He understands the reason for it, but he doesn’t want to actually talk to her. He talked to Sehun, which was more than enough. He answers the phone anyway.

“Hi Luna.” It’s good to start simple.

“I was hoping that I’d get to talk to my favorite scammer,” Luna greets back. Jongin flinches. They’re cutting straight to the quick then.

“So I see someone told you,” Jongin replies genially, but don’t be fooled, he’s dying on the inside.

“Oh yeah, it’s actually why I called. I wanted to talk.”

“Okay,” Jongin wishes he could have a better response, but honestly, he’s lucky he can even respond at all.

“So since you’ve been exposed for the lying scumbag, which you are, I bet you’ve realized how shitty you were while we were dating.”

“Well, if we’re being honest, I realize how shitty the entire affair is. I completely disregarded any feelings you had.” Jongin knows he should be really honest with everyone. First of all, it’s what they deserve, and second, it’s undeniably true. While being purely logical in his project, he disregarded any emotions involved, including those of his test subjects.

“It’s amazing what you realize when you get in trouble for it.”

Jongin supposes he deserves that. It has been 4 years after all, and he’s only just now showing remorse. Luna’s never going to believe that he’s sincere.

“I just want to know why. I’ve heard too many accounts ranging from you were dating all of us so you could eventually sell us into slavery to what sounds suspiciously like the plot of _Get Out.”_

Jongin has no idea how these rumors are spreading. Kyungsoo pretty clearly explained what was happening to everyone in one fell swoop. What the fuck are these rumors?

“I don’t know how much you’ll care for the full explanation, but the short of it is that I was interested as to how certain TV stereotypes will be received in a romantic relationship if they never change.”

Luna laughs. “That’s so pretentious. Put it in layman’s terms. You’re not clever enough to be talking like that.”

Well that stings. She got him right where he’s sensitive. It’s a skill that all of the populars are versed in. Jongin himself used to do it until he took on the Prince Charming persona.

“You know in dramas when you’re introduced to the love interest, and he usually falls into some category of boy-next-door, nerd, bad boy and the like. So you get far along enough in the drama and they start to fall in love and then he starts to change until he almost seems like another person. I thought that was unrealistic, so I wanted to see what would happen if the character just stayed themselves throughout the entire relationship. So with you I was the nerd.”

Luna’s laughing at him. Why is she laughing at him?

“Oh my god, are you stupid?” There’s another sting. She’s really hitting him hard today. “Jongin, people always change when they meet someone. No matter what you do, everyone you know will describe you a little differently because you are different person with everyone you meet. It’s the same thing in love, you idiot. People change. With any type of strong emotion, people change to reflect that. Love, whether romantic or platonic, usually changes people for the better. The plot of those dramas is meant to reflect that each person was not great before that, but interactions with people who want the best for them can cause people to change for the better.”

Jongin’s ready to fight. He can only take being called stupid so much. “Look, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that their personality changes were too much for just falling in love.”

The derision in Luna’s voice is hurtful. “Yeah, yeah, okay, sure. Then let’s play to the second fact that you were basing this off of a drama. Dramas, which are written to be over-the-top, or did you think that _Boys Over Flowers_ was an accurate representation of the private schooling system?”

“Okay,” Jongin gripes. “I don’t really need this.”

“And I didn’t really need you using me for your own stupid project,” Luna retorts.

She’s got him there. Jongin returns to his original plan.

“Look Luna, I’m really sorry, and I know you won’t believe that since it does come after me receiving backlash, but I really am. I didn’t quite realize the full severity of what I was doing.”

“Oh yeah, your explanation of your actions definitely shows how dumb you were. I believe that you didn’t realize it.”

Jongin’s ego at this point is effectively shattered. “Well, okay. Your point’s been proven. Do you have anything else to say?”

“Yeah, I forgive you. You were younger and stupider than you were now, and I think you realize what you’ve done.”

Jongin feels a weight he didn’t even know was on his shoulders, lift. He breathes out. “Thank you.”

Luna laughs again, this time high and amused. “You’re welcome, and Jongin, chill out. It’s high school. It’s not that big a deal.”

II.

After talking to Luna, Jongin makes it his mission to talk to every girls he’s dated. They deserve the closure to know that Jongin is a dick and it was never about them. Luna might just think it’s high school, and it might be, but Jongin feels like it’s the least he can do.

The phone rings for almost a minute before Taeyeon picks up.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Jongin,” he answers freely. It’s no big surprise that Taeyeon deleted his number. Out of all of them, this relationship ended the worst since Taeyeon and he have been neighbors all of their life. She actually knew him and thought they were close before he started the project, and then, of course, he destroyed all of that in an instant.

Her bright, happy tone instantly goes away. “Ah, yes. I thought you might be calling me. Luna texted me that you talked.”

Ah, good old Luna, easily making this harder than it has to be. “So I guess you know why I’m calling you then.”

“Yes, and there’s really nothing you can say to make me forgive you.”

The guilt wells up in Jongin’s chest until it threatens to burst. He swallows harshly. “I wouldn’t think of asking you for forgiveness. I’ve dated five people under the guise of the project and yours is definitely the low point. I took our friendship and relationship and destroyed it. I didn’t think anything of it at the time either. I didn’t think at all how you would feel.”

Jongin makes the conscious decision to not say sorry. He doesn't want to make Taeyeon thinks he's only going this for forgiveness. This is about how much he regrets hurting her, and how he understands how irreparably he destroyed their friendship.

“I understand, Jongin, and I don’t forgive you.” Her voice is soft and small. “The whole affair doesn’t really bother me anymore. I’m happy in another relationship right now, and I don’t really think of you too much, but you’ve destroyed any trust that I could possibly have in you. I would prefer you never call me again.”

“Okay,” Jongin answers because what else can he do?

“Goodbye, Jongin.”

“Goodbye.”

The call ends.

III.

Sunny is the next call and perhaps the most surprising of all. She answers almost immediately. Her voice is bright, and well, sunny.

“Hello Jongin, I’ve been expecting your call.”

“Luna?”

Jongin can hear the grin in her voice, “Well, of course. We’ve all agreed to never be fooled by you again.”

“Of course,” Jongin answers back easily. Out of all of them, Sunny was the most laid-back and also the shortest experiment, so there should be few hard feelings. She also doesn’t sound bothered in the least which is fantastic. Jongin can’t expect to come to terms with everybody, but he’d like to come to terms with as many as people as possible. “Did Luna tell you that I was sorry?”

“She said something along the lines, but I’d like to hear it from the man himself.”

“I was a dick. I treated everything I did with you like it was a game. I never thought about you or your feelings during the entire time. I am very sorry for treating you as less than human.”

Sunny giggles into the phone. “What an odd way to phrase that apology, and I should also tell you that my feelings and I are one and the same. Luna told me that you didn’t understand that.”

“Luna seemed to tell you a lot.”

“Oh Luna tells me a lot because I tell her a lot. For instance after I got a certain letter from one D.O., I told her that it was more than just you being some kind of playboy asshole.”

Jongin stills. “You knew?”

“During it? No. It was only after the letter that I figured it out. Do you know who I’ve lived next to my entire life, Jongin?”

Jongin shakes his head before remembering this is a phone call. “No.”

“I grew up next to one Kyungsoo Do. And the thing you notice about growing up next to Kyungsoo is that he’s very observant and he writes everything down. And then when you live next to him when you’re in the middle of a scam, he gets very quiet and becomes the only one to dissuade you from dating, and that’s very odd since he never interacts with the person you’re dating. But he seems overly knowledgeable about him, and when the letter finally comes, the pieces start to come together. And at first you’re hurt but then you realize that your little observant neighbor is only interested in things he finds logical and clever, so then you start to think. Then you realize it’s a game and you’re just a pawn. And you're glad your observant little neighbor stopped things when he did, so you let him continue on.”

“Long story short, you knew.”

“Oh yes, but I only told Luna if you’re wondering. I let Kyungsoo go on without saying anything. He has his own games that he plays, but he doesn’t use people the way you do.”

“He used me.”

Sunny laughs. “Only because you're interesting, Jongin. And I'm glad he exposed you because you wouldn't have done it otherwise. Don’t try to act like you would have."

Jongin nods. “Yeah, yeah, Kyungsoo’s the hero, and I’m the villain.”

Sunny laughs again. “I don’t think I would say that. In this case, it was in his best interest to reveal it. If Kyungsoo had thought it was in his best interest to not tell anyone, he would have done it without a second thought. Don’t be fooled by the circumstances, you and Kyungsoo aren’t so different.”

Jongin lets out a sardonic chuckle. “So I’ve been told.”

IV.

Jongin finds Sooyoung in the gym practicing a cheer routine. When she sees him, her limbs almost droop comically. She also does not want what’s about to happen to happen.

“Jongin,” She says without any emotion. It’s a great start.

“Sooyoung,” Jongin greets back.

She picks up her poms and starts going through the movements of her cheer slowly. She doesn’t spare Jongin a glance.

“Here to tell me that I was different and that you actually fell in love with me?” Her voice is filled with venom. This wound is probably still festering, so Jongin proceeds with caution.

“No, I wasn’t in love with you. You were nothing more than one experiment in a set. I treated you terribly and I feel horrible that I did that to you so easily without thought. I’m really sorry that I did that to you.”

Sooyoung still doesn’t look at him. “I’m just glad the entire school hates you for what you did.”

Jongin nods and comes to some more understandings. “You didn’t care about dating me at all. You were just doing what everyone expected you to.”

Sooyoung nods, swinging her arms in wide loops. “That’s right. Everyone expects the head cheerleader to date the quarterback, so I did. You aren’t my type. I’m not into vapid, pretty boys. Though I suppose that’s not what you’re really like.”

Jongin shakes his head. “I hope not. I know that I’m not nearly as smart as I once thought, but I’m not stupid. I was playing into the stereotype of a popular jock.”

Sooyoung does a high kick. “I know. I saw the slideshow, but you didn’t take the popular jock character to heart nearly enough.”

Jongin cocks his head. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone who’s really popular knows that high school is nothing more than scamming the losers into thinking you’re all that. You and me dating? All a façade, and every popular kid knows it. You aren’t that different from the rest of us.”

Jongin's shattered ego had crumples into dust. He can’t believe he’s being compared to the popular kids. He wants to go and sulk in a corner for the next few hours, so he’s going to finish this now.

“So no hard feelings then?”

Sooyoung laughs derisively. “Why would there be hard feelings? It’s high school.”

V.

Even though Jongin’s attempted closure and somewhat gotten closure with everyone he’s ever dated, he’s still not done. There’s one more person he has to talk to. School ends in 4 hours and then he graduates 3 hours after that. He’d like to talk to Kyungsoo before Kyungsoo’s able to avoid him for good. But the guy’s not answering his phone calls nor anywhere in the school that Jongin can find. He even checked that fucking closest in D-hall.

It’s right when he’s on the verge of giving up that his prayers are answered in the form of an envelope deposited in his locker. Inside is a key that is oddly bare bones and a letter that simply says “the auditorium is a really nice place to think”. Jongin’s not really at a point where he wants to question things anymore, so he pockets the key and the note and heads over to the auditorium.

The auditorium is always locked, which is stupid. Jongin knows the school’s worried about theft, but what idiot’s going to want hand painted sets?

The auditorium isn’t dark. The lights are on in preparation for the cleaning crew to clean up before graduation tonight. But right now it’s empty except for Kyungsoo sitting dead center in the last row. He looks up from his phone when he hears the door open and sighs heavily when he sees that it’s Jongin. Jongin walks down the row until he falls into the seat next to Kyungsoo.

“What a lackluster response to the boy who’s life you ruined.”

Kyungsoo snorts. “I didn’t ruin your life. In fact I think I was rather kind to wait until the end of school. You’re not going to see any of these guys after graduation except for Taemin, who couldn’t care less about the entire thing.”

“You think you were being kind?”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo nods and opens up his Facebook app. “I was being too kind. I should have exposed you sooner. You have to suffer the silent treatment and people’s hate for a week and then you’re home free.”

“Then why didn’t you?” An irrational part of Jongin hopes it’s because Kyungsoo likes him.

“Kids are fickle. This could have blown over in a day if the right rumor came up. The end of the year is the best because the only rumors that ever come up are break-up rumors which are small in comparison with the shit you pulled.”

“You wanted maximum damage,” Jongin summarizes.

Kyungsoo laughs, “Yeah, I did, and I got it. Everyone I know is talking about how much of a dick you are. What a way to end the school year.”

“You got what you wanted, and I got nothing.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. He locks his phone and pockets it, but he doesn’t turn to face Jongin. He stares straight ahead at the stage. “That’s not true. No matter how I frame it or no matter how I explain it, there are going to be people who admire you for what you did. It’s impossible to get everyone to hate you.”

Jongin shrugs, “I guess, but I don’t think those are the kind of people I want to hang out with. I end up being nothing to people I want to be something to.”

Kyungsoo huffs out a single laugh. “Well, I’m glad I achieved something in your eyes. I did always want you to notice my work.”

“Why?” Jongin asks, making sure to keep his voice level when really he’s practically trembling with excitement. First of all, how great is it that his crush wants his attention? It’s fucking amazing. Secondly, he’s excited to learn of the great D.O.’s motivations for coming after him.

“When I first saw you, you were in your nerd persona, but it didn’t quite make sense. You were confident in a way that didn’t fit, and your style of dressing was too stereotypical. You stuck out too much for a nerd by being too much of a nerd. So I started watching and realized you were doing this persona for some reason, but what was interesting was that you were fixated on being that specific character. I came to my conclusions of what you were doing, and I started following you very actively. I thought you were being very clever and I was interested in your motivations for being different characters. And the more I watched, the more I realized how intricate and meticulous you were being, and I compared it to myself, and I wanted to be noticed by the very person I considered to be as smart as myself.”

Jongin can feel himself blushing. This is the compliment he’s always wanted to receive, and to get it from his crush? He can feel himself growing redder.

He clears his throat. “I think it’s a bit much to say I’m smarter then you. You did win.” It’s good to play it humble. He does want to somehow end this conversation with a date even though it seems like an impossible task.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. He seems to be in his stride now, and Jongin thinks he can probably get any answer he wants right now. “No, you’re exceedingly smart, but you didn’t have all the information. From the beginning I was ahead of since you didn’t know who I was. For the most part, you’ve been as clever as possible given the circumstances.”

“For the most part?”

“Yeah, I would say that you only failed when you did nothing when you figured out who I was. There was a hot second there when you were ahead of me and you still did nothing.”

There’s an implicit question there, and Jongin briefly struggles with how to answer it before he decides to fuck it, so to speak.

“I like you, and I didn’t want to hurt you in any way.”

Out of all the reactions Kyungsoo could have had, Jongin doesn’t expect laughing to be the one Kyungsoo goes for. It’s a confused bark of laughter. “You like me? You don’t even know me. I was scamming you just as much as you were scamming Sehun.”

Jongin laughs too. “Yeah, I know. Feelings are weird like that, aren’t they?”

Kyungsoo’s quiet. Jongin doesn’t do anything but sit there. He’ll give Kyungsoo as much time as he needs. Kyungsoo’s voice is quiet when he does choose to speak. “Feelings are weird like that, but they’re not so consuming as you suggest. For instance, I was still able to go through with the reveal.”

Jongin can feel his heart swell at the indirect reciprocation of his feelings. This is an A+ scenario, but there are still some hoops to jump through. “I think that just speaks to how professional you are in your work.”

Kyungsoo smiles. “What a flatterer. What’s your gain in being nice to me?”

“I’m hoping to score a date, if I’m being honest.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “My point still stands. We don’t know each other, and I’m not entirely unconvinced that our feelings aren’t somewhat based off of the fact that we got off on the game itself.”

Jongin feels his hope growing. This could end in his favor. “So it was a game?”

“Well, if it’s not then it’s a really fucked up, competitive experiment.”

“So it’s a game, and maybe that’s how the feelings began, but they could continue without it.”

Kyungsoo side eyes him before rolling his eyes again. “They could, for sure, who’s to say what feelings will do, but right now it looks like the game was the only thing that connected us.”

Jongin leans back. He’s feeling super smug. “What could I say to convince you that we should date?”

Kyungsoo shifts in his seat to look at Jongin. He’s got a knowing smile on his face. He seems to be feeling the exact same as Jongin albeit for different reasons. “Right now, nothing. Let’s see how you feel in five months when we’re surrounded by new people and new experiences. What’s a high school crush going to mean then?”

Jongin feels himself smirk. “Be prepared then, Kyungsoo Do because five months from now we’ll be dating.

VI.

_Three months later…_

Kyungsoo’s thought a lot about where he’s going to sit in his Psychology 101 class. He can’t sit in the back because he sometimes forgets his glasses and he wants to make sure he’s seated where he can see the screen no matter what. But he can’t sit in the first row because he wants to maintain a low profile and the front is asking for attention. The next few rows back are also bad because he needs to people watch if he’s going to get information. That leaves the middle row.

Kyungsoo takes the seat that’s two away from the middle, and squints. He can still see the board without his glasses which is good, and he can see enough people to be able to pick up on things. He’ll also be able to hear anything that happens behind him, so this spot is ideal.

Satisfied with his spot, he unpacks his textbook and laptop. He knows that most of the class will be dedicated to the syllabus, but he has no doubt that right after that, the professor will jump right into the first chapter. He wants to be prepared.

People file into the lecture room around him while he sets his computer up to take notes. He pays no mind to them. They’re all going to be stuck together for a whole semester. He has time to get to know them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone take a seat next to him, but doesn’t look away from his laptop. Minseok’s just texted him about some idiot from their high school trying to be all chummy with him.

“Hey, do you have a pencil I can borrow?”

Kyungsoo looks up alarmed at the question to see Jongin smiling at him. The most surprising thing is how genuine the smile is. It makes him look so boyish, and Kyungsoo can feel his heart speed up at how attractive Jongin is. Three months has done nothing to lessen his crush. But for the sake of not looking stupid and letting Jongin know how stupidly attractive Kyungsoo still finds him, Kyungsoo just hands him the pencil next to his laptop without a word.

The smile grows, “Thanks. I can’t believe I forgot one on the first day of class. My name’s Jongin Kim. You should remember that because two months from now we’ll be dating.”

Kyungsoo snorts. Giving Jongin an amused smile, he replies. “We’ll see about that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget this is a double posting!


	30. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue: Junior year of college. Kyungsoo's got another project and Jongin just wants to be a supportive boyfriend.
> 
> Warning for flirty Jongin

 

I.

The coffee shop’s crowded. It’s 12:13, and between 12:00 and 12:50, there are no lectures or labs or seminars going on anywhere across campus. A majority of students are in the dining hall, but the ones who struggled through their 8ams are here in the coffee shop.

 

Kyungsoo and Jongin have been camped out at a corner table for over two hours now, waiting. Jongin’s slumped over the table, arms pushing against Kyungsoo’s laptop. He looks up pitifully at his boyfriend.

 

“It’s been two hours, Soo. I don’t think he’s coming.” He knocks at the back of Kyungsoo’s laptop.

 

Kyungsoo scowls and grabs at Jongin’s hand to stop him from hitting his laptop. He stayed up most of the night working on a psych paper, so it’s already hard enough to read the screen without Jongin hitting it. He looks at the time displayed on his screen and sighs. Jongin’s probably right, but Kyungsoo’s loathe to admit it. His research had shown that Junghyun always got coffee between 10 and 11 on Tuesdays. Kyungsoo had staked out the coffee shop for two months to ascertain the fact. Of course, the one Tuesday Kyungsoo chooses to implement his plan, Junghyun doesn’t show up.

 

Kyungsoo frowns. “Let’s just wait until 1. Maybe he got sidetracked. He might not be here now, but I bet you anything he’s going to stop by to get coffee at some point.”

 

Jongin sighs, and stretches out his legs under the small table. The table isn’t built to accommodate someone as lanky as Jongin, so the slightest movement outwards has his feet tangling with Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo waits for Jongin to draw his feet back, but Jongin doesn’t make to move them away.

 

“Jongin.”

 

Jongin just smirks at the admonishment and drags his foot in so that the inside of his right foot slots against the inside of Kyungsoo’s left. Kyungsoo tries to draw his foot back, but Jongin hooks the toe of his left around Kyungsoo’s ankle to stop him.

 

“Jongin.” Kyungsoo tries not to whine, but even he admits it’s borderline. He flushes lightly. “We’re in public.”

 

When it becomes apparent that Kyungsoo’s not going to escape, Jongin drops his left foot to the ground and flexes it so that he brushes over Kyungsoo’s ankle. He looks up at Kyungsoo and pouts, “But you didn’t care when we were in the library, Soo.”

 

Kyungsoo glances a look at the clock: 12:20, and then down at his notes before looking back at Jongin. “That’s different. We sat far back in the stacks where no one goes, and we weren’t dating. The only reason I let you do it then was because I wanted you to know I was interested.”

 

Jongin keeps brushing Kyungsoo’s ankle. “Well how am I supposed to know you’re interested now?”

 

“I wouldn’t have agreed to dorm with you for the last two years if I wasn’t interested.”

 

Brush. Brush.

 

“That doesn’t mean anything. Friends dorm together. How do I know you’re interested as my boyfriend?”

 

Kyungsoo feels himself growing hot. Even though they’ve been dating for almost 2 years, he still gets flustered at the constant physical affection and the term ‘boyfriend’. He clears his throat and looks down at notes again to see if he can find a reason as to why Junghyun’s not here. From over the top of his laptop he can see the smirk reappear on Jongin’s face. He rubs at his mouth to try and regain his composure. “Friends don’t push their twin beds together.”

 

Jongin hums like he’s considering it before sighing dramatically. “We should have standing date nights like Chan and Baek.”

 

“Our work and study schedules are too unpredictable.” Kyungsoo runs a finger across the spreadsheet. He’s only found a few times where Junghyun hasn’t appeared at the coffee shop within an hour timespan. Kyungsoo hasn’t discovered why Junghyun hasn’t stuck to his schedule these few times, but the occurrence of them is erratic enough for it to be probable that the same thing’s happening today.

 

“That’s fair. We should at least promise to have one date a week wherever we can fit it in. And study dates don’t count, but I would still like that to continue.”

 

A little more relieved that there’s still a good chance that Junghyun will come by, Kyungsoo looks back up at Jongin, “So we could technically call this a date.”

 

Jongin stills when he sees the tables have turned. He shakes his head vehemently. “No, no, no. It doesn’t count as a date if I’m not the most important guy.”

 

“You’re always the most important guy.”

 

“Am I really? It doesn’t feel like it when you keep looking at the door for Junghyun.”

 

Kyungsoo flicks his eyes over to Jongin briefly before returning to looking at a door. “That’s completely different. Junghyun’s for a project.”

 

“I was for a project.”

 

“Yeah, a four-year project. This won’t last more than a week once I get they key.”

 

“You only started dating me after the project. What if after you’re done, you start dating him?”

 

“Keep talking and I might,” Kyungsoo rubs at his mouth. It’s a completely empty threat, but Jongin likes to argue for the sake of arguing, and the best way to end it is by agreeing with him even if it’s just a joke.

 

“I knew it. You have some weird fetish for your subjects. I should have known since I was a subject.”

 

“If that were actually true, I would’ve dumped you for Hyoseong last year and—“ Kyungsoo cuts himself off when the bell above the coffee shop rings and Junghyun walks in. “He’s here. He should set his stuff down and then get in line.”

 

Jongin looks around the busy coffee shop. “There are no available tables. He’ll probably carry out.”

 

Junghyun looks to have come to the same conclusion because after a quick look around, he frowns, and goes to get in line, backpack, unfortunately, still on his back.

 

Kyungsoo acts before he thinks. “Hey Junghyun!”

 

When Junghyun looks over, Kyungsoo momentarily feels his brain go blank and he knows it shows on his face, but he recovers quickly. He picks up his coffee cup. “We’re about to leave if you want this table.”

 

About 10 people in line glare at him for passing off his table, but Kyungsoo doesn’t care. He doesn’t need anything from them. He needs something from Junghyun.

 

Junghyun smiles easily and walks over, slipping his backpack off. Jongin lightly taps Kyungsoo’s ankle to get his attention. Kyungsoo tilts his head in Jongin’s direction, but keeps his eyes on Junghyun.

 

“What?”

 

“We’re not about to leave.”

 

“You’ve got a seminar at 1. You were about to leave.”

 

“At most the walk’s 15 minutes. I’ve got at least 20 minutes left before I leave.”

 

“Please Jongin, I’ll walk to class with you and we can even hold hands.”

 

Jongin’s eyes narrow, and Kyungsoo withholds a groan. They don’t have enough time to argue about this. Jongin lips his licks. “We hold hands and we make out in the alcove behind the building.”

 

“Jongin please.”

 

Jongin huffs. “Fine, but only because you’re cute.”

 

“Jongin!”

 

Jongin chuckles as he begins picking up their stuff. Chucking it carelessly into his bag, he smiles up at Junghyun. “Hey man, nice to meet you. I’m Jongin, Kyungsoo’s boyfriend. Let me just take care of our trash and then you can set your stuff down.”

 

Junghyun smiles politely back. “It’s no problem. Thanks for giving me your table.”

 

Jongin sweeps up Kyungsoo’s trash as well and heads to drop their stuff in the trashcan. When he’s behind Junghyun, he mouthes at Kyungsoo to stay put.

 

Kyungsoo smiles genially at Junghyun and gestures to Jongin’s seat. “You can set your stuff down, and get in line. I’ll watch over it with our stuff.”

 

“Ah cool, thanks.” He slips his bag off his shoulder and down into Jongin’s seat.

 

When Junghyun goes to get in line, Kyungsoo makes eye contact with Jongin and repeatedly flicks his eyes over to Junghyun. Jongin briefly nods and goes to get in line with Junghyun, easily striking up a conversation.

 

With Junghyun sufficiently distracted, Kyungsoo moves up out of his seat and picks up Jongin’s backpack, setting it on the table. Standing in such as way as to block Junghyun’s bag from sight, Kyungsoo pretends to rifle through Jongin’s bag. With a quick glance to Junghyun who seems thoroughly focused on his conversation with Jongin, Kyungsoo drops his hand down to the front pouch’s zipper. It’s an educated guess that Junghyun’s going to keep the keys in the smallest pouch.

 

At first glance in the pouch, all Kyungsoo can see is crumpled up receipts and wrappers. He wrinkles his nose. Junghyun could definitely stand to be cleaner. He carefully moves the wrappers to the side, being careful to avoid them crinkling too loudly. At the bottom of the front pocket, Kyungsoo finds a key ring with three keys on it. He sucks his teeth. He didn’t think that Junghyun would have more than the one. He slides them apart and looks at each of them individually. One of them is silver, so he drops that one. All of the faculty keys are bronze. The last two look similar except for the key head. The first is rounded while the second is rectangular. Kyungsoo finagles the second one off of the key ring. All of the faculty keys have the same rectangular head.

 

When Kyungsoo’s successfully pocketed the key, he bats the wrappers and receipts down so that they cover the key ring again and zips the front pocket up. He moves away to slip his own backpack  on. When he turns around, he makes eye contact and smiles at his boyfriend. At the smile, Jongin bids his goodbyes to Junghyun and makes his way back over to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo gestures to Jongin to turn away from him so he can help him with his back pack.

Without moving his mouth, Jongin asks. “Did you get it?”

 

Kyungsoo guides one of Jongin’s arms through the strap. “Yeah, I did. Thanks for distracting him.”

 

Jongin shrugs his shoulder to moves the straps into a more comfortable position. He smirks salaciously. “Are you thankful enough to make out with me in the alcove?”

 

Kyungsoo looks down at the floor, tongue poking against his cheek. He looks back up. “We’ll see.”

 

 

II.

The math building is extremely easy to break into. With a quick swipe of Kyungsoo’s faculty card, a much-coveted treasure he had attained as a freshman, and a quick duck behind a pillar to avoid a security guard on his way out, Jongin and Kyungsoo are successfully alone and ready to implement the next part of the plan.

 

Kyungsoo leads them up to the second floor where most of the offices are. He stops in front of 204.

 

Jongin’s practically plastered against Kyungsoo as he leans over to watch Kyungsoo unlock the door. “Why does Junghyun have a key to Kim’s office?”

 

The lock’s sticking. Kyungsoo keeps turning and pushing. “Kim allows Junghyun to have his office hours in here. The only reason Kim allowed it is because Junghyun’s not that observant, so the chances of Junghyun noticing the camera are slim.”

 

“Pull the door towards you, turn the key, and then push it open. You’re not even sure that there’s a camera to notice.”

 

“Chaeyoung’s eagle-eyed. She said she saw it on the bookshelf.” Kyungsoo pulls the door towards him, turns the key, and opens the door. He looks at Jongin like he’s some kind of magician.

 

“My front door lock is super sticky, so we had to learn how to open it.”

 

Kyungsoo peeks around the door just to make sure it’s empty. “I didn’t think it was that sticky.”

 

“Mom had the lock changed after Suho lost his key.” Jongin points to the bookcase behind the desk. “Is that the bookcase?”

 

Kyungsoo takes a better look around the room. There’s a desk with two simple wooden chairs in front of it, and a nice leather one behind it. Behind the leather chair is the bookcase in question, but perpendicular to the bookcase are two more bookcases at the far ends of the room.

 

Kyungsoo looks over at Jongin and begins thinking out loud in his direction. “Chaeyoung said she came in so she could talk about her last exam.  When she first came in, she had a view of all three bookcases, but the two against the far walls aren’t wholly visible from the entrance, and unless she was turning around during the meeting, the most likely place is the bookcase behind the desk.”

 

Jongin nods, already heading over to examine it. “That sounds right. But where is it? There’s no obvious place to hide it.”

 

Kyungsoo frowns and examines the bookcase himself. It’s a pretty simple layout. Books are lined up neatly with no space in between them on the top two shelves and the bottom two shelves. The two middle shelves are at eye-level and consist of some family photos specifically of Professor Kim’s daughters and none of his wife. Kyungsoo supposes you probably don’t want to fuck your students with a picture of your wife staring down at you. Kyungsoo would’ve thought that the rule applied to your daughters too, but what does he know.

 

The only other things on the middle two shelves are the course’s textbooks stacked artistically, a battered old basketball and some vintage camera. When Chaeyoung had said camera, she had specified a spy camera. Kyungsoo frowns. There’s really no place for a spy camera to hide. Kyungsoo turns around to look at the other two bookcases. He sees now that he hadn’t really looked at them. Both of them are crammed with books. Definitely no space for a spy camera.

 

He looks up at Jongin and does what he would call a frown and Jongin would call a pout. “I thought for sure that Chaeyoung was onto something.”

 

Jongin drops a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder and squeezes it affectionately before squatting down to get a better look at the lower shelves. He slowly scans his way across and up the shelves and back down again before stopping in front of the vintage camera. He leans in closer, squinting into the lens. “Hey Soo, I think there’s another camera in here.”

 

Kyungsoo squats down to look, and he thinks Jongin’s right. In the lens there seems to be a second detached lens. Kyungsoo grabs it and moves so that he’s sitting on the ground against the desk. Jongin kneels down in front of him.

 

“If there is another camera, I bet the lens should pop out pretty easily to access it.”

 

Kyungsoo takes Jongin’s advice and begins to gently pry it open. The lens pops right off and inside is indeed another camera. It’s bigger than your average spy camera, but with how well hidden it was in the vintage camera, a small size wasn’t necessary. Kyungsoo gently extracts it and hands it to Jongin. Between the two of them Jongin is the more technologically savvy.

 

Jongin turns the camera over carefully. It’s pretty basic in terms of set-up. It’s got a USB port for exporting and a small jack presumably where the charging cable is connected. Jongin suspects that it holds at most a two-day charge. At the front of the camera, there’s a piece of black electrical tape covering the recording light. Jongin pulls up the corner to confirm his suspicions. It’s not on, which means to conserve power, Kim probably turns it off when he leaves for the day. That’s good. Now he and Kyungsoo won’t have to erase anything and leave a 30-minute gap on the footage. Jongin holds out a hand.

 

“Do you have the USB?”

 

Kyungsoo places the small stick in Jongin’s hand. “Are you sure this won’t wipe it clean?”

 

Jongin nods as he plugs the stick in and turns the camera on. “Yeah.  You’d have to plug it in to a computer to wipe it clean, but it’s designed to only export a copy of the data if it’s a USB. So if Kim wants to make sure he can get his jollies later, but he’s running late, he can plug a USB in and get the footage without hampering anything.”

 

“How do you know when it’s done exporting?”

 

Jongin thinks. “This is a pretty high tech camera. I’d say 2 minutes and then we’re good to go. Is the security guard going to come by again?”

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “No, they would only come back if someone called it in, but no one’s going to do that.”

 

Jongin nods and looks around the room again while they wait. He focuses on the desk Kyungsoo’s leaning against. “I wonder if desk sex is really all that.”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t lift his eyes from the camera. “No, Jongin.”

 

“Well obviously, not in this office. It’s weird because he’s sleeping with his students. But like if the opportunity arises…”

 

“No, Jongin.”

 

“What about if we went back home and did it in like Lim’s room? You know as a ‘fuck you’ kind of thing.”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t even have to think it through. “Lim’s had sex on his desk before. I think it was sophomore year. His girlfriend at the time was really into the idea of getting caught. I’d rather not touch something that Lim’s penis potentially touched.”

 

Jongin sticks his tongue out in disgust. “Gross. Why do you know so much about that?”

Kyungsoo glances up at him briefly. “His office wasn’t the only place that they had sex.”

 

Jongin can’t stop from grimacing, but the idea of Lim having public sex isn’t so off-putting that he’s forgotten their original conversation. “Okay, not at Lim’s place, but since we both want to get our master’s, at least one of us is going to get put in charge of a class and that means at least one of us will have access to an office for office hours. What about then?”

 

Kyungsoo scrunches his nose. “You want to have sex in some professor’s office? It’s kind of gross if it’s something that’s not ours.”

 

Jongin concedes to the same point, but in an instant he’s overcome the problem. “The desks in our room are pretty sturdy.”

 

Kyungsoo gestures to the USB stick. “It’s got to be done now. It’s been over 2 minutes.”

 

Jongin pulls the stick out and hands it to Kyungsoo. “I’ll put the camera up and then we can leave. No time like the present to test out the strength of the desks.” Kyungsoo doesn’t respond as he watches Jongin turn the camera off, slide it back in, and pop the lens back on. Jongin slides the camera back into spot carefully. Leaning back to make sure it’s in the exact same spot they took it from, he moves it a micrometer to the left. “I think that’s good, right?”

 

Kyungsoo closes one eye and looks at it. He reaches for it and angles it a millimeter forward. He leans back and looks at it again. “Yeah, I think so.”

 

Jongin rises with audible pops in his knees. He groans. “Ugh, I’m getting so old. Come on. Let’s get out of here and back to our room.”

 

Kyungsoo rises. “Yeah, we both have 8ams tomorrow.”

 

Jongin pouts and tsks as they walk out. “You’re really not going to respond to my proposition of desk sex even though I cleared all your worries.”

 

Kyungsoo locks the door behind him. “I have a lot more worries about desk sex than just the surface in general.”

 

“I’ll clear them all.”  

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond.

 

“You’re not saying anything because you know I can.”

 

Kyungsoo licks his lips. “We’ll see.”

 

III.

 

On Thursday’s Jongin and Kyungsoo both get off by 10, and since neither have class until the afternoon on Friday, they usually end up streaming a TV show. Lately they’ve been watching every cooking show, competition or documentary they can find. Tonight they’re watching an English baking competition that’s low stress. Kyungsoo’s curled around Jongin. He has his head on Jongin’s shoulder, an arm slung casually around his waist, and a leg thrown in between Jongin’s. Jongin’s arm rests casually on Kyungsoo’s hip, his thumb casually brushing back and forth over the bone. The laptop rests on his chest.

 

“We should move into an apartment with a really nice kitchen.”

 

Kyungsoo’s speech is slightly slurred with his cheek smashed against Jongin’s shoulder. “We’re saving for grad school. They’ll decrease our scholarships if we live off campus.”

 

“In the long-term, it’ll be more efficient.”

 

“It’s only more efficient in the long-term if we get an apartment after we get graduate undergrad.”

 

“I want to move out now,” Jongin whines.

 

“Tough. Now quiet. Andrew’s going up for judging.”

 

Jongin pouts and leans his head on top of Kyungsoo’s, but he doesn’t say anything else. They get through the episode and the next one’s loading to play when they hear someone rapidly knocking on their door. Jongin groans loudly and wraps his arm tighter around Kyungsoo to stop him from getting up. “No. Soo, come on. Stay here please.”

 

Kyungsoo struggles out of Jongin’s grip. “It’s 11:30. No one would knock unless it’s important.”

 

“Or Minseok,” Jongin whines, “And you know it’s Minseok.”

 

Kyungsoo wipes away a grin. “Who knows? Maybe this time it’s not Minseok.” Kyungsoo opens the door. “Hey Min.”

 

“I knew it,” Jongin grumbles.

 

Minseok walks in without an invention and sits down in Kyungsoo’s desk chair.  He looks over at Jongin and with faux concern asks, “Oh no, did I interrupt something?”

 

Jongin glares at him before looking over at his boyfriend. “Kick him out.”

 

Kyungsoo frowns at him. “We’re not going to do that. I actually asked him to come over.”

 

“What?”

 

Minseok sticks out his tongue in Jongin’s direction. “Ha!”

 

“Well,” Kyungsoo concedes, “I did say to come over whenever you’re free. I didn’t expect it to be now.”

 

“I actually think it’s really funny that you’re only free now,” Jongin adds. He’s pulled his pillow around to in front of his stomach and is squeezing it tightly.

 

Minseok cocks his head and smiles sarcastically. “I also think it’s weird that I’m only free on Thursdays between the time of 10:30-2.”

 

Jongin glares at Minseok before looking at Kyungsoo. “Soo!”

 

“God, you’re so whiny. What happened to that cool kid from high school?”

 

“My project was exposed,” Jongin retorts.

 

“You didn’t write a damn thing down. That’s not a project.”

 

Jongin huffs out angrily. He can’t respond to that, so he chooses to change the subject. “Why are you here?”

 

Kyungsoo answers this one. “I need to get into the lab, and Minseok has a key.”

 

“I can’t believe someone would trust you with a key,” Jongin grumbles.

 

Minseok sneers. “Sounds like someone’s a little jealous that they don’t have Kyung’s full attention.”

 

Kyungsoo steps in between Jongin and Minseok, so they can’t see each other. “Are you ready to go now? I’ve got a copy of the video on the stick.”

 

“Wait, you’re going now?”

 

Kyungsoo nods. “Yeah, the security system is rebooted on the third Thursday of every month between 12 and 2. It’s the perfect time to go and not be caught. We have to be careful though since the system is shut down in sections. The lab is shut down at 12:45 for 30 minutes.”

 

Jongin rolls off of the bed with a groan. “Okay then, let’s go.”

 

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

 

Jongin waves a hand. “No, no, I want to. I like seeing things play out.”

 

Minseok snorts, “We’re placing a USB on Kim’s desk so she can see her husband’s a scumbag. We’ve got like two days before we hear anything. Probably longer since I’m not sure that she’s going to do anything about it.”

 

“Yeah that’s the question. How will an analytical person react to their significant other’s infidelity? If she does nothing, we still have to give this to administration. You know, since it’s morally wrong.”

 

“Right, right, right. Let’s head out. I’m driving up to meet Sehun tomorrow morning for coffee, so I can’t go to bed too late otherwise I’ll hate myself.”

 

Kyungsoo shoulders his bag and hands Minseok the key card. “I don’t know where the lab is. You should lead.”

 

The trek to the lab is silent. Mostly because since the security system is down, the school has more security guards than usual patrolling. They almost get caught on two separate occasions, but eventually they get to the lab. They’re able to walk right in after Minseok swipes them into the building at 12:41. The trek to the lab takes 6 minutes putting them at the door of the lab when the system’s being updated. Minseok opens the door without having to use his own key. He scoffs, “There’s an actual lock on here, but she didn’t lock it because she forgot the system was going to update tonight. This is how people get robbed.”

 

“We’re doing the opposite of robbing. We’re leaving something.”

 

The lab consists of three rows of lab benches facing a blackboard. At the very back of the room is Professor Kim’s desk.  Minseok walks to it and looks over the complete and utter mess of a desk. Ever inch is covered with papers and open books. Minseok gives them a wry smile. “Ah right, I forgot. She’s in the middle of researching for a paper, and she’s incredibly absent-minded when she is. That’s why her desk is such a mess. The stick is very small. I am 100% sure she will not see it if we just put it on her desk.”

 

“What if we tape it to her computer monitor?” Jongin asks. He’s standing by the lab bench closest to the desk.

 

Minseok looks over the desk again. “If I can find the tape, yeah.”

 

“Oh, no problem, I’ve got a roll of duct tape in my bag. We should leave a note though. I don’t want her to go into it blind. I’ve edited out all the boring parts, so it’s really just turned into a porn compilation.”

 

“You watched it?” Jongin asks at the same time Minseok asks, “Is he any good?”

 

Kyungsoo responds to each in kind, “Yes. I wanted to make sure it was what we thought it was. There was definitely some faking it going on by the girls.”

 

“Knew it,” Minseok mutters.

 

Kyungsoo hands the stick and the tape to Minseok and pulls out a deck of post-its. “I’m just going to write ‘footage from the office of Professor Hansol Kim, Viewer Discretion is Advised”. That should be enough.”

 

As Kyungsoo writes, Jongin leans over and whispers in his ear, “Sign it “sincerely, your Distant Observer’.”

 

Kyungsoo laughs and elbows Jongin back. “No way. D.O.’s dead.”

 

“Hey lover boy,” Minseok snaps. “No flirting allowed.”

 

“We’re not flirting,” Kyungsoo retorts.

 

“I was flirting,” Jongin admits. Kyungsoo shoots him a glare before apologizing to Minseok, ears red from embarrassment.

 

“Couples,” Minseok grumbles. He smooths down the tape that’s peeking over the edge of the monitor. “Okay, it’s taped. Are you done writing the note?”

 

“Yeah, here you go.” Kyungsoo hands over the bright yellow post-it. Minseok applies the adhesive part right below the stick so that the post-it sits square in the center of the monitor. He surveys his handiwork. “She has to use her computer so I think she’ll definitely see it, but we’ll see.”

 

IV.

 

By a stroke of luck, Jongin and Kyungsoo both manage to get Friday evening off. They end up going to the pizza place down the street since Kyungsoo has a coupon. It’s their first proper date in two months.

 

“Oh right, Mom texted me. She and Dad are going to come up this weekend. They’re going to take us out, so think of where you want to eat,” Kyungsoo says, grabbing his second piece of pizza.

 

Jongin pushes the stack of napkins closer to Kyungsoo. “Okay. We should go to the Italian place that just opened up. They’re going to want to see the room. Should we push the beds apart?”

 

Kyungsoo can’t help but snort. “We’ve been dating for 2 years. I don’t think either of our parents are under any delusion that we’re not sleeping together.”

 

“For propriety’s sake though,” Jongin argues.

 

“When you got drunk at last year’s Christmas party, you spent half an hour telling both of our parent’s how much you loved me which included a five minute snippet on our sex life.”

 

Jongin winces. He hadn’t been able to look the Dos or his parents in the eyes for months. “At least it was only five minutes,” he tries.

 

Kyungsoo’s not going to give it to him. “I think we can both agree that that’s five minutes too many.”

 

Jongin can’t argue against that, so he changes the subject. “Do you want to go see a movie after this? That new comedy film is getting terrible reviews, so it should be good.”

 

“Yeah. You’ve got your student ID, right? We can get the discount.”

 

“I think so. There’s probably a showing around 8, so we should head out in about half an hour.”

 

“We should get ice cream after the movie.” While Kyungsoo’s talking, he feels his phone vibrate. Thinking it’s his mom answering his text, he unlocks it. It’s a text from Chaeyoung.

 

**From: Chaeyoung**

 

**I went to go visit Professor Kim for a rec letter, and on his door is a note that says he’s gone. The school’s going to send out an email on Monday. Good Job!**

“Jongin! Jongin! Look, look, look!” Kyungsoo shoves his phone across the table. Jongin smirks when he reads the information.

 

“She finally turned him in. I was wondering if she would. We gave her the stick a month ago. She probably told administration.”

 

Kyungsoo takes back the phone, replies to Chaeyoung and pockets it. He grabs another slice of pizza. “I bet she did since this is more than just a simple case of infidelity. It’s a break of ethics and at least 12 school rules. He’s having sex with his students and filming it without their knowledge. He’s looking at jail time if the school reports it.”

 

“And they will.”

 

“And they will,” Kyungsoo agrees.

 

Kyungsoo wipes his hands on a napkin, leans back and crosses his arms. “Well that ends this project. Professor Kim, an analytical person, turned her husband in because of a breech of ethics and the law.”

 

Jongin leans back and mirrors Kyungsoo’s pose. “You can’t say for certain that the fact he was cheating on her wasn’t part of the drive to turn him in. You need more evidence.”

 

“What I need is another case study, specifically one where the only immoral thing someone’s doing is cheating.”

 

“And you have one.”

 

Kyungsoo grins. “I do have one actually. Chaeyoung was telling me about one of the geology professors. I think he’ll be the next subject. You better hope I don’t fall in love with him.”

 

“I knew it was a fetish!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to thank all of you guys for reading this. This fic is really special to me because it's actually the first fic I've ever finished, and I'm glad that it was this one. I really enjoyed writing it and hearing that you guys liked it. I know I wasn't very verbal all the time about how appreciative I was, but you guys really made my days when I saw that you read it, gave it kudos, subscribed and commented. I really can't explain how happy I was. Thank you!


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